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A series of undrained cyclic axial-torsional shear tests on saturated coral sand and quartz sand under linear, circular, and heart stress paths are performed. The test results show significant diff...

Exosome-associated liquid biopsies are hampered by challenges in the exosomal quantification and phenotyping. Here, we present a bioinspired exosome-activated DNA molecular machine (ExoADM) with multivalent cyclic amplification that enables highly sensitive detection and phenotyping of circulating exosomes. ExoADM harbors two (an exposed and a hidden) DNA toehold domains that actuate sequential branch migration and multivalent recycling in response to exosomal surface markers. Importantly, this self-powered ExoADM achieves a high sensitivity (33 particles/μL) and is compatible with another DNA nanomachine targeting different exosomal surface markers for dual-color phenotyping. Using this strategy, we can simultaneously track the dynamic changes of ExoPD-L1 and ExoCD63 expression induced by signaling molecules. Further, we found that their expression levels on circulating exosomes could well differentiate cancer patients from the normal individuals. More importantly, ExoPD-L1 levels could reflect the efficacy of different treatments and guide anti-PD-1 immunotherapy, suggesting the potential of ExoPD-L1 in clinical diagnosis and targeted therapy monitoring.

Compared with classic probability or statistical theories, Bayesian inference could be a better option for real-world damage identification problems since it can simultaneously utilize both prior knowledge and current measurements of a structure. However for a complex problem, a Bayesian identification procedure should face the challenge of unknown likelihood functions and unacceptable computational expenses. Due to it, approximate Bayesian computation (ABC) is adopted and incorporated with the Metropolis Hastings sampling (MHS) algorithm and stochastic response surface (SRS). Likelihood functions are no longer required during the inference. A stable Markov chain is obtained containing qualified parameter samples, whose random responses are then fast computed by SRSs. Additionally, a nested Bayesian updating procedure with a dynamic tolerance is proposed for fast estimation convergence of posterior probability distributions. After that a probabilistic damage index is defined based on the statistical features of the estimated posterior probability distributions. Lastly, the feasibility of the proposed method has been validated using both numerical and experimental beams. Their damage was indicated by the magnitude variations of the damage index.

Aristolochic acids (AAs) contained in herbal plants are implicated in multiple organ injuries and have a high mutational burden in upper tract urothelial cancers. The currently available techniques for monitoring AAs include LC (liquid chromatography) and LC/MS (mass spectrometry), but the application of these approaches are limited due to the complex sample preparation and derivatization steps. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop efficient methods for identifying and quantifying AAs. Here, we present a new dual-spectroscopic approach for the direct detection of AAs from blood and tissue samples; the detection of aristolochic acid I (AAI) is performed by surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS), and its bioproduct, aristololactam (AAT), is detected by fluorescence spectroscopy based on their distinctive spectral response. Furthermore, a graphene assisted enrichment coupled with a magnetic retrieval strategy was developed to enhance SERS sensitivity toward AAI. Our method was successfully applied to directly determine both AAI and AAT from the blood, liver, and kidney of rats. The potential for real-world application was demonstrated by continuously monitoring AAI and AAT in rat blood and tissues after AAI feeding. The results showed that AAI was gradually metabolized to AAT and transported to different organs. It was found that the metabolism of AAI took place in the kidney, but AAT residue was detected in both liver and kidney, which might be related to long-term toxicity and gene mutation. The proposed dual-spectroscopic strategy is applicable to long-term toxicology research and to the direct diagnosis of AAI-induced organ injury.

The nuclear modification of groomed jet splitting in relativistic heavy-ion collisions at RHIC and the LHC is studied based on higher twist jet energy loss formalism. Assuming coherent energy loss for two subjets, we find a non-monotonic dependence on jet energy for the nuclear modification of jet splitting function, which provides a good description of CMS and STAR groomed jet measurements. In contrast, the assumption of independent energy loss for two subjets cannot explain the observed nuclear modification pattern for groomed jet splitting.

We study the longitudinal decorrelations of elliptic, triangular and quadrangular flows in heavy-ion collisions at the LHC and RHIC energies. The event-by-event CLVisc (3+1)-dimensional hydrodynamics model, combined with the fully fluctuating AMPT initial conditions, is utilized to simulate the space-time evolution of the strongly-coupled quark-gluon plasma. Detailed analysis is performed for the longitudinal decorrelations of flow vectors, flow magnitudes and flow orientations. We find strong correlations between final-state longitudinal decorrelations of anisotropic flows and initial-state longitudinal structures and collision geometry: while the decorrelation of elliptic flow shows a non-monotonic centrality dependence due to initial elliptic geometry, typically the longitudinal flow decorrelations are larger in lower energy and less central collisions where the mean lengths of the string structure are shorter in the initial states., 4 pages, 3 figures, Proceedings of Quark Matter 2018

We investigate the role of partonic degrees of freedom in high-multiplicity $p\text{\ensuremath{-}}\mathrm{Pb}$ collisions at $\sqrt{{s}_{NN}}=5.02\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{TeV}$ carried out at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) by studying the production and collective flow of identified hadrons at intermediate ${p}_{T}$ via the coalescence of soft partons from the viscous hydrodynamics ($\mathrm{VISH}2+1$) and hard partons from the energy loss model, linear Boltzmann transport (LBT). We find that combining these intermediate ${p}_{T}$ hadrons with the low ${p}_{T}$ hadrons from the hydrodynamically expanding fluid and high ${p}_{T}$ hadrons from the fragmentation of quenched jets, the resulting hydro-dynamics-coalescence-fragmentation model provides a nice description of measured ${p}_{T}$ spectra and differential elliptic flow ${v}_{2}({p}_{T})$ of pions, kaons, and protons over the ${p}_{T}$ range from 0 to 6 GeV. We further demonstrate the necessity of including the quark coalescence contribution to reproduce the experimentally observed approximate number of constituent quark scaling of hadron ${v}_{2}$ at intermediate ${p}_{T}$. Our results thus indicate the importance of partonic degrees of freedom and also hint at the possible formation of quark-gluon plasma in high-multiplicity $p\text{\ensuremath{-}}\mathrm{Pb}$ collisions at the LHC.

Within an advanced Langevin-hydrodynamics framework coupled to a hybrid fragmentation-coalescence hadronization model, we study heavy flavor quenching and flow in relativistic heavy-ion collisions. We investigate how the initial heavy quark spectrum, the energy loss and hadronization mechanisms of heavy quarks in medium, the evolution profile of pre-equilibrium stage, the flow of medium and the temperature dependence of heavy quark diffusion coefficient influence the suppression and elliptic flow of heavy mesons at RHIC and the LHC. Our result shows that different modeling of initial conditions, pre-equilibrium evolution and in-medium interaction can individually yield about 10-40% uncertainties in D meson suppression and flow at low transverse momentum. We also find that a proper combination of collisional versus radiative energy loss, coalescence versus fragmentation in hadronization, and the inclusion of medium flow are the most important factors for describing the suppression and elliptic flow of heavy mesons., 9 pages, 7 figures; to be published in Chinese Physics C

Using a model based on the Color Glass Condensate framework and the dilute-dense factorization, we systematically study the azimuthal angular correlations between a heavy flavor meson and a light reference particle in proton-nucleus collisions. The obtained second harmonic coefficients (also known as the elliptic flows) for $J/\psi$ and $D^0$ agree with recent experimental data from the LHC. We also provide predictions for the elliptic flows of $\Upsilon$ and $B$ meson, which can be measured in the near future at the LHC. This work can shed light on the physics origin of the collectivity phenomenon in the collisions of small systems., Comment: 14 pages, 7 figures. This work is an extension of our earlier publication 10.1103/PhysRevLett.122.172302 (arXiv:1901.10320); v2 with minor updates

Seven undescribed indole-based alkaloids, xuefengins A–D and xuefenglasins A–C, were isolated from natural Ophiocordyceps xuefengensis, along with six known alkaloids. Their structures were elucidated by comprehensive spectroscopy, with absolute configurations confirmed by comparison with calculated electronic circular dichroism spectra. Eleven of the isolates were tested for cytotoxicity against the U937, NB4, MCF-7, Hep G2, and A549 cancer cell lines. Two compounds exhibited moderate activities, with IC50 values of 2.83–25.68 μM and 1.54–12.16 μM. Further pharmacological studies showed that these two compounds inhibit cell proliferation by inducing apoptosis, and decreasing p38 and caspase-3 levels in A549 cells.

Heavy flavor probes are sensitive to the properties of the quark gluon plasma (QGP) produced in relativistic heavy-ion collisions. A huge amount of effort has been devoted to studying different aspects of the heavy-ion collisions using heavy flavor particles. In this work, we study the dynamics of heavy quark transport in the QGP medium using the rapidity dependence of heavy flavor observables. We calculate the nuclear modification of $\text{B}$ and $\text{D}$ meson spectra as well as spectra of leptons from heavy flavor decays in the rapidity range $[-4.0,4.0]$. We use an implementation of the improved Langevin equation with gluon radiation on top of a (3+1)-dimensional relativistic viscous hydrodynamical background for several collision setups. We find that the rapidity dependence of the heavy quark modification is determined by the interplay between the smaller size of the medium, which affects the path length of the heavy quarks, and the softer heavy quark initial production spectrum. We compare our results with available experimental data and present predictions for open heavy flavor meson $R_\text{AA}$ at finite rapidity., 7 pages, 5 figures

We compute the azimuthal angular correlation between a heavy quarkonium (or an open charm meson) and a charged light hadron produced in pA collisions in the color glass condensate framework. The obtained elliptic asymmetries ( v 2 ) of J / ψ and D 0 mesons agree with the recent experimental data from the LHC quite well. Our calculation demonstrates that an initial state effect due to the interaction between the partons inside the projectile proton and the dense gluons inside the target nucleus can generate a sizable collectivity which can be measured at RHIC and the LHC. In this framework, we find the mass dependence for the heavy quarkonium v 2 is quite weak, while that for the open meson v 2 is rather strong. It will be very interesting to test our results regarding other heavy mesons in the future experimental measurements.

We revisit radiative parton energy loss in deeply inelastic scattering (DIS) off a large nucleus within the perturbative QCD approach. We calculate the gluon radiation spectra induced by double parton scattering in DIS without collinear expansion in the transverse momentum of initial gluons as in the original high-twist approach. The final radiative gluon spectrum can be expressed in terms of the convolution of hard partonic parts and unintegrated or transverse momentum dependent (TMD) quark-gluon correlations. The TMD quark-gluon correlation can be factorized approximately as a product of initial quark distribution and TMD gluon distribution which can be used to define the generalized or TMD jet transport coefficient. Under the static scattering center and soft radiative gluon approximation, we recover the result by Gylassy-Levai-Vitev (GLV) in the first order of the opacity expansion. The difference as a result of the soft radiative gluon approximation is investigated numerically under the static scattering center approximation., 33 pages in RevTeX with 30 figures, final version appeared in PRD with additional typos corrected

The nuclear modification of jet splitting in relativistic heavy-ion collisions at RHIC and the LHC energies is studied based on the higher twist formalism. Assuming coherent energy loss for the two splitted subjets, a non-monotonic jet energy dependence is found for the nuclear modification of jet splitting function: strongest modification at intermediate jet energies whereas weaker modification for larger or smaller jet energies. Combined with the smaller size and lower density of the QGP medium at RHIC than at the LHC, this explains the CMS-STAR groomed jet puzzle -- strong nuclear modification of the momentum sharing $z_g$ distribution at the LHC whereas no obvious modification of the $z_g$ distribution at RHIC. In contrast, the observed nuclear modification pattern of the groomed jet $z_g$ distribution cannot be explained solely by independent energy loss of the two subjets. Our result may be tested in future measurements of groomed jets with lower jet energies at the LHC and larger jet energies at RHIC, for different angular separations between the two subjets., 10 pages, 12 figures

A simple self-assembled method for the deposition of PbS quantum dots (PbS QDs) on the surface of polydopamine (PDA)-encapsulated BiVO4 nanoparticles is proposed to synthesize PbS@PDA/BiVO4 nanocomposite photocatalysts with the assistance of ultrasonication. In the PbS@PDA/BiVO4 nanocomposites that was designed to improve the charge separation efficiency, PDA served as a natural adhesive and a stabilizer that can help to prevent PbS quantum dots from agglomeration, and PbS quantum dots served as the multiple exciton donor. The photocatalytic degradation of glyphosate experiments indicated that PbS@PDA/BiVO4 exhibited the enhanced photocatalytic activity under visible light irradiation. As compared with that of BiVO4, PbS@BiVO4 and PDA/BiVO4, the photocatalytic activity of PbS@PDA/BiVO4 was improved by 3.03, 1.48 and 1.58 times, respectively. The enhanced activity of PbS@PDA/BiVO4 can be attributed to the rapid transport of a mass of photoelectrons generated by multiexciton generation from PbS quantum dots to the surface of BiVO4 and the enhanced charge separation efficiency of photogenerated charge carrier.

Understanding the dynamic processes of CO2 capture in biosystems is important because of the great effect CO2 has on the carbon cycle, human health, the global climate, and living environments. After years of multidisciplinary studies, researchers have gained only basic mechanistic knowledge about how enzymes or protein-aggregates capture and deliver CO2, a process involving reversible bonding of CO2 with basic amino acid residues. However, vital mechanistic details of how the activated basic residues within these enzymes or protein-aggregates are initially formed, a crucial step for CO2 capture, are still lacking. Herein, we designed specific molecules, i.e., oxazolidines, which are able to reversibly change their alkalinity via ultrafast isomerizations. Serving as so-called transient bases, these oxazolidines mimic the activated/deactivated states of enzymes or protein-aggregates responsible for dynamic CO2 capture/release. A detailed mechanism for CO2 capture, which involves dynamic covalent bonding and multimolecular cooperative interactions among functional groups that occur with the help of a polyhydroxyl environment, is demonstrated by UV−vis and multiple NMR spectroscopies as well as theoretical calculations. Using suitable oxazolidine transient bases, applications for visual CO2 detection under different detection limit requirements were also developed. Insights for further understanding the process of dynamic CO2 capture in biosystems are also discussed. This oxazolidine-inspired biomimetic CO2 capture serves as a platform for the future development of additional biomimicking systems, as well as offers unique perspectives for other complicated life processes.

Ophiocordyceps xuefengensis has recently been identified as a sister taxon of O. sinensis and has long been recognized as a folk tonic, food, or invigorant in South China. This study had 3 aims: First, we analyzed the antioxidant activities of 3 kinds of caterpillar fungi; the antioxidative ability of the various caterpillar fungi were in the order of O. xuefengensis > Cordyceps militaris > O. sinensis. Second, we further identified the antioxidant compounds in O. xuefengensis by using various methods: multiwavelength DPPH high-performance liquid chromatography with diode array detection and quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry. In this way, we found and identified 30 compounds that possessed potential antioxidant activity. Among these compounds, 23 compounds were determined to be composed of nucleosides, nucleotides, and amino acids. To our knowledge, several compounds in O. xuefengensis are reported here for the first time. Third, we compared the antioxidant markers in 3 caterpillar fungi. Results showed that the caterpillar fungi share some common antioxidants, while each also had its own characteristic compounds that correspond to its antioxidant capacity. This is to our knowledge the first report of the screening and identification of antioxidants in O. xuefengensis, and these results might provide beneficial contributions to understandings of O. xuefengensis on the basis of its chemical compounds and antioxidant activity.

We study the effect of the hydrodynamic medium response on full jet structures in heavy-ion collisions. The coupled jet-fluid model that is composed of transport equations for jet evolution and hydrodynamic equations with source terms for the QGP medium evolution is employed to perform numerical simulations of jet events in Pb+Pb collisions at the LHC. We find that the contribution from the jet-induced flows increases the jet-cone size dependence of the full jet energy loss. It is also shown that this contribution significantly modifies the jet shape, and especially dominates it at large angles from the jet direction.

We establish a linear Boltzmann transport (LBT) model coupled to hydrodynamical background to study hard parton evolution in heavy-ion collisions. Both elastic and inelastic scatterings are included in our calculations; and heavy and light flavor partons are treated on the same footing. Within this LBT model, we provide good descriptions of heavy and light hadron suppression and anisotropic flow in heavy-ion collisions. Angular correlation functions between heavy and light flavor hadrons are studied for the first time and shown able to quantify not only the amount of heavy quark energy loss, but also how the parton energy is re-distributed in parton showers.

Jet-related correlations have been regarded as important tools for studying jet-medium interaction and jet quenching in relativistic heavy-ion collisions at RHIC and the LHC. Here we present our recent work [L. Chen, G.-Y. Qin, S.-Y. Wei, B.-W. Xiao, H.-Z. Zhang, Probing Transverse Momentum Broadening via Dihadron and Hadron-jet Angular Correlations in Relativistic Heavy-ion Collisions, arXiv:1607.01932 ] and show that the back-to-back angular correlations in dijet, dihadron and hadron-jet measurements can be utilized as a quantitative tool to probe the medium-induced transverse momentum broadening and to extract jet quenching parameter q. By comparing with the dihadron and hadron-jet angular correlation data at RHIC, we obtain the medium-induced transverse momentum broadening, averaged over different jet paths, 〈 p ⊥ 2 〉 ∼ 13 GeV 2 for a quark jet in most central Au-Au collisions at 200A GeV. Future experiments with statistically improved data on jet-related (angular) correlations will allow us to obtain more precise knowledge of jet quenching parameter and parton-medium interaction in high-energy nuclear collisions.

A highly sensitive molecular imprinted-based electrochemical sensor for resveratrol is described. Electrodeposition and electropolymerization techniques were successively used to prepare gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) and polyaniline (PANI) film on glassy carbon electrode. The as-formed porous PANI/AuNPs composite acted as a conducting network mediating electron transfer, and offered supporting matrix for anchoring the imprinted elements—polyacrylamide (PAM) that was chemically polymerized at the composite interface using acrylamide as functional monomer and resveratrol as template molecule in an amiable condition, thereby forming a molecular imprinted polymer (MIP) capable of specifically recognizing and electrochemically responding to resveratrol. The preparation conditions were carefully investigated aiming to obtain a high-performance MIP-based sensor for electrochemical sensing of resveratrol. Quantification was performed by differential pulse voltammetry in pH 4.0 phosphate buffer. The peak current was directly proportional to resveratrol concentration ranging from 1.0 μM to 200 μM, with detection limit of 87 nM. A variety of commonly coexisting ingredients such as ferulic acid, catechin, caffeic acid, vanillin, and protocatechin acid cannot produce detectable current signal in the given analytical condition, enabling the direct detection of resveratrol in wines without the requirement of sample pretreatment (e.g., chromatographic separation or solvent extraction).

We previously tested HER2-targeted antibody drug conjugates (ADC) in immunocompromised (SCID) mice, precluding evaluation of host immunity, impact on cancer stem cells (CSCs), and potential benefit when combined with PD-L1 blockade. In this study, we tested HER2-targeted ADC in two immunocompetent mouse tumor models. HER2-targeted ADC specifically inhibited the growth of HER2-expressing tumors, prolonged animal survival, and reduced HER2(+) and PD-L1(+) cells. ADC plus anti-PD-L1 antibody augmented therapeutic efficacy, modulated immune gene signatures, increased the number and function of CD3(+) and CD19(+) tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs), induced tumor antigen specific immunological memory, stimulated B cell activation, differentiation, and IgG1 production both systemically and in the tumor microenvironment. In addition, ADC therapy modulated T cell subsets and their activation in TILs. Furthermore, HER2-targeted ADC reduced the number and tumorigenicity of ALDH(hi) CSCs. This study demonstrates that HER2-targeted ADC effectively targets ALDH(hi) CSCs and this effect is augmented by co-administration of anti-PD-L1 antibody.

In the recent paper [1], we carry out the numerical calculations for back-to-back dihadron and hadron-jet angular correlations within the Sudakov resummation framework. This framework allows us to compute transverse momentum broadening and away-side angular correlations in pp collisions for the first time and use it as the baseline to study the medium effects in AA collisions. It paves the way for the quantitative study of jet-medium interaction and the transport properties of QGP. This proceeding is mainly a brief summary of that paper.

A brief review of some of recent progresses on theoretical and phenomenological jet quenching studies in heavy-ion collisions is provided, with particular focus on the nuclear modification of jet rate, shape and structure.

We study the evolution of full jet shower in quark-gluon plasma via solving a set of coupled differential transport equations for the three-dimensional momentum distributions of quarks and gluons contained in the full jets. The evolution equations include all partonic splitting processes as well as the collisional energy loss and transverse momentum broadening for both the leading and radiated partons of the full jets. Combining with realistic hydrodynamic simulation for the space-time evolution of the fireball created in Pb+Pb collisions at 2.76A TeV, we calculate the nuclear modification of single inclusive full jet spectra, the momentum imbalance of photon-jet and dijet pairs, and jet shape function (at partonic level). The roles of various jet-medium interaction mechanisms on the modification of full jet energy and internal structure are studied.

We study the nuclear modification of full jet structure in relativistic heavy-ion collisions, with the inclusion of the effect of the medium response. The evolution of full jet shower is described by a set of transport equations, and the space-time evolution of quark-gluon plasma is simulated by solving relativistic hydrodynamic equations coupled with the energy and momentum depositions by jets as the source terms. We study the effect of medium response to full jet shower and present how jet-induced flow contributes to the full jet structure in PbPb collisions at the LHC.

We establish a linear Boltzmann transport (LBT) model coupled to hydrodynamical background to study hard parton evolution in heavy-ion collisions. Both elastic and inelastic scatterings are included in our calculations; and heavy and light flavor partons are treated on the same footing. Within this LBT model, we provide good descriptions of heavy and light hadron suppression from RHIC to the LHC energies. Possible solutions to the R AA vs. v 2 puzzle are discussed.

Visible-light-driven bismuth vanadate (BiVO4) photocatalysts were prepared by the co-precipitation method. The BiVO4 samples were characterized using X-ray diffraction, UV–visible diffuse reflectance, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), photocurrent, and as well as electron microscopy (SEM, TEM). The photocatalytic activity of the as-prepared BiVO4 samples was tested through the photocatalytic oxidation of glyphosate under visible light irradiation. The dark yellow amorphous BiVO4 powder was prepared by the HAc method after drying at 70 °C, but the bright yellow monoclinic BiVO4 was obtained after keeping at room temperature in the air for several days. The dependence of the room temperature crystallization on moisture can explain the low crystallization temperature found in this work. The BiVO4 sample calcined at 400 °C by the HAc method showed the highest photocatalytic activity for glyphosate degradation under visible light irradiation because of its high charge separation efficiency proven by EIS and photocurrent.

Polygonatum (Asparagaceae) is a medicinal and food plant that is naturally distributed in most of countries throughout the temperate Northern Hemisphere. Here we report on the complete chloroplast ...

Lilium pumilum DC. is a useful plant species not only for its showy flowers but also for its edible and medicinal values. Here we report on the complete chloroplast genome sequence of L. pumilum. T...

Lilium brownii F.E.Brown var. viridulum Baker is a medicinal and food plant that is widely distributed in northern and eastern Asia. Here, we report on the complete chloroplast genome sequence of L. brownii var. viridulum. The chloroplast genome is 152,665 bp in size and includes two inverted repeat regions of 53,052 bp, which is separated by a large single-copy region of 82,085 bp and a small single-copy region of 17,528 bp. A total of 131 genes were predicted, including 38 tRNA, 8 rRNA, and 85 protein-coding genes. Phylogenetic analysis placed L. brownii var. viridulum under the family Liliaceae.

We investigate the decorrelation of 2nd and 3rd order anisotropic flow for charged particles in two different pseudo rapidity ( η ) windows by varying the pseudo rapidity gap, in an event-by-event (3+1)D ideal hydrodynamic model, with fluctuating initial conditions from A Multi-Phase Transport (AMPT) model. We visualize the parton distribution at initial state for Pb+Pb collisions at LHC and Au+Au collisions at RHIC, and demonstrate the longitudinal fluctuations originating from the asymmetry between forward and backward going participants, the fluctuations of the string length and the fluctuations due to finite number of partons at different beam energies. The decorrelation of anisotropic flow of final hadrons with large η gaps is found to originate from the spatial decorrelation along the longitudinal direction in the AMPT initial conditions through hydrodynamic evolution. The agreement between our results and recent CMS data in most centralities suggests that the string-like mechanism of initial parton production in AMPT model captures the initial longitudinal fluctuation that is responsible for the measured decorrelation of anisotropic flow in Pb+Pb collisions at LHC. Our predictions for Au+Au collisions at the highest RHIC energy show stronger longitudinal decorrelation than at LHC, indicating larger longitudinal fluctuations at lower beam energies.

We study the medium modification of heavy quarks produced in heavy-ion collisions. The evolution of heavy quarks inside the QGP is described using a modified Langevin framework that simultaneously incorporates their collisional and radiative energy loss. Within this framework, we provide good descriptions of the heavy meson suppression and predictions for the two-particle correlation functions of heavy meson pairs.

We study the medium-induced gluon emission process experienced by a hard jet parton propagating through the dense nuclear matter in the framework of deep inelastic scattering off a large nucleus. We work beyond the collinear rescattering expansion and the soft gluon emission limit, and derive a closed formula for the medium-induced single gluon emission spectrum from a heavy or light quark jet interacting with the dense nuclear medium via transverse and longitudinal scatterings. Without performing the collinear rescattering expansion, the medium-induced gluon emission spectrum is controlled by the full distribution of the differential elastic scattering rates between the propagating partons and the medium constituents. We further show that if one utilizes heavy static scattering centers for the traversed nuclear matter and takes the soft gluon emission limit, our result can reduce to the first order in opacity Djordjevic-Gyulassy-Levai-Vitev formula., 21 pages, 14 figures

Using the dilute-dense factorization in the color glass condensate framework, we investigate the azimuthal angular correlation between a heavy quarkonium and a charged light hadron in proton-nucleus collisions. We extract the second harmonic v2, commonly known as the elliptic flow, with the light hadron as the reference. This particular azimuthal angular correlation between a heavy meson and a light hadron was first measured at the LHC recently. The experimental results indicate that the elliptic flows for heavy flavor mesons (J/ψ and D0) are almost as large as those for light hadrons. Our calculation demonstrates that this result can be naturally interpreted as an initial state effect due to the interaction between the incoming partons from the proton and the dense gluons inside the target nucleus. Since the heavy quarkonium v2 exhibits a weak mass dependence according to our calculation, we predict that the heavy quarkonium ϒ should have a similar elliptic flow as compared to that of the J/ψ, which can be tested in future measurements.

Traditional Chinese medicine formula granules (TCMFGs), an advanced dosage form of traditional Chinese medicine, are entering the market on a large scale. However, little attention has been paid to the simultaneous efficacy assessment and quality control of this advanced dosage form. In this study, a comprehensive comparison of the pharmacological activity and chemical consistency of TCMFGs from different manufacturers was performed. Ge-Gen decoction (GGD) samples were used as the target TCMFG. The in vitro anti-inflammatory effects among different types of GGDs indicate that all of them showed different abilities to reduce the lipopolysaccharide-activated production of nitric oxide, interleukin-1β (IL-1β), IL-6 and tumor necrosis factor-α. The results from a dimethylbenzene-induced inflammation model in mice indicated that the nine samples in this study showed significant in vivo anti-inflammatory effects. Qualitative and quantitative analyses were performed by multiwavelength ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography with diode array detection and electrospray ionization with quadrupole time-of-flight-tandem mass spectrometry. To visually interpret the differences in the chemical materials, a scatter plot analysis was performed. According to the scatter plot analysis, nine compounds were evaluated as important contributors to the differences. This is the first report of TCMFGs on the basis of the spectrum-effect consistency.

We study the suppressions of high transverse momentum single hadron and dihadron productions in high-energy heavy-ion collisions based on the framework of a next-to-leading-order perturbative QCD parton model combined with the higher-twist energy loss formalism. Our model can provide a consistent description for the nuclear modification factors of single hadron and dihadron productions in central and non-central nucleus–nucleus collisions at RHIC and the LHC energies. We quantitatively extract the value of jet quenching parameter $$\hat{q}$$ via a global $$\chi ^2$$ analysis, and obtain $${\hat{q}}/{T^3} = 4.1$$ –4.4 at $$T = 378$$ MeV at RHIC and $${\hat{q}}/{T^3} = 2.6$$ –3.3 at $$T = 486$$ MeV at the LHC, which are consistent with the results from JET Collaboration. We also provide the predictions for the nuclear modification factors of dihadron productions in Pb + Pb collisions at $$\sqrt{s_\mathrm{{NN}}}$$ = 5.02 TeV and in Xe + Xe collisions at $$\sqrt{s_\mathrm{{NN}}}$$ = 5.44 TeV.

With our coupled jet-fluid model, we study the nuclear modifications of full jets and jet structures for single inclusive jets and $\gamma$-jets in Pb+Pb collisions at $5.02$~ATeV and $2.76$~ATeV. The in-medium evolution of full jet shower is described by a set of coupled transport equations including the effects of collisional energy loss, transverse momentum broadening and medium-induced splitting process. The dynamical evolution of bulk medium is simulated by solving relativistic hydrodynamic equation with source term which accounts for the energy and momentum deposited by hard jet shower to soft medium. Our study demonstrates that the hydrodynamic medium response to jet propagation significantly enhances the broadening of jet shape at large angles and is essential for the cone-size dependence of jet energy loss and nuclear modification factor of inclusive jet production. It is also found that the nuclear modification pattern of jet shape is sensitive to jet energy but has weak dependence on the flavor of the parton that initiates the jet. Our result can naturally explain the different nuclear modification patterns of jet shape functions for single inclusive jet and $\gamma$-jet events as observed by the CMS Collaboration, and can be tested in the future by measuring the jet shape function over a wider range of jet energies in heavy-ion collisions., Comment: 10 pages, 8 figures. To be published in PLB

It is widely acknowledged that heavy flavor probes are sensitive to the properties of the quark-gluon plasma and are often considered an important tool for the plasma tomography studies. Forward rapidity observables can provide further insight on the dynamics of the medium due to the interplay between the medium size and the differences in the production spectra of heavy quark probes. In this proceedings we present the nuclear modification factor $R_\text{AA}$'s for B and D mesons, as well as heavy flavor leptons, in the rapidity range $-4.0 < y < 4.0$ obtained from relativistic Langevin equation with gluon radiation coupled with a (3+1)-dimensional viscous hydrodynamics medium background. We present comparison with experimental data at mid-rapidity as well as predictions for different rapidity ranges., 4 pages, 4 figures, contribution to the proceedings of Quark Matter - XXVIII international conference on ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions (Wuhan, China, 4-9 November, 2019)

The CLVisc (3+1)D viscous hydrodynamic model is extended to include the equation of net baryon conservation and the Israel-Stewart-like equations for dissipative baryon current. Using the NEOSB equation of state, we simulate the dynamical evolution and collectivity of the quark-gluon plasma with finite chemical potential, assuming smooth energy density and net baryon density distributions at the initial proper time. Numerical results are shown for the impact of net-baryon dissipation on particle yields and pT spectra in heavy-ion collisions at beam energy scan energies.

We study the flavor dependence of jet quenching in heavy-ion collisions. A next-to-leading-order perturbative QCD framework is applied to account for both quark and gluon contributions to light and heavy flavor hadron productions. A linear Boltzmann transport model coupled to hydrodynamic simulation is utilized to study the nuclear modification of heavy and light flavor jets in the dynamically evolving quark-gluon plasma. Within our jet quenching framework, we obtain a nice description of the nuclear modification factors of charged hadrons, D mesons, B mesons and B–decayed D mesons over a wide range of transverse momentum (8-300 GeV). Our result shows that perturbative QCD is sufficient to explain the color, mass and energy dependence of parton energy loss and jet quenching in heavy-ion collisions.

We calculate the radiative parton energy loss in the deeply inelastic scattering (DIS) off a large nucleus within a generalized high-twist approach. The final gluon radiation spectrum is a convolution of the hard partonic part and the transverse momentum dependent (TMD) quark-gluon correlation function, without the twist expansion in the transverse momentum of the initial gluons used in original high twist approach. The TMD quark-gluon correlation function can be factorized approximately as the product of initial quark distribution and TMD gluon distribution which can be used to define the generalized or TMD jet transport coefficient. The radiation spectrum will recover the Gylassy-Levai-Vitev (GLV) result in the first order of the opacity expansion, under the static scattering center and soft gluon radiation approximation. We also investigate numerically the difference as a result of the soft gluon radiation approximation, under the static scattering center approximation.

We investigate the heavy flavor dynamics in the quark-gluon plasma (QGP) medium created in p-Pb collisions at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC). In the (3+1)-dimensional viscous hydrodynamics model describing QGP medium, the dynamics of heavy quarks are studied in an improved Langevin framework incorporating both collisional and radiative energy loss. The hadronization of the heavy quarks is given by a hybrid model of fragmentation and recombination. We find that the in-medium evolution of charm quarks raises the D-meson R p P b at low transverse momenta while it suppresses the D-meson R p P b at intermediate momenta. In addition, the elliptic flow of D-meson is calculated. For a diffusion coefficient which reproduces central RAA data at the LHC, we find a much smaller D-meson ν 2 compared to the light hadrons. This observation indicates an incomplete coupling between heavy quarks with the medium, due to the reduced medium size compared to AA collisions.

In this study, we report an enzyme-free and conjugation-free electrochemical genosensor enabling an ultrasensitive readout of BRCA-1, a breast cancer susceptibility gene. The sensor employs a target-responsive hybridization chain reaction (HCR) to significantly amplify the detectable current signals. By means of a functional auxiliary probe pair and a versatile initiator sequence, a linear DNA concatemer structure can be formed via spontaneous and continuous polymerization of DNA oligomers in the presence of target sequence. Such a DNA nanoassembly endows the genosensor an ultrahigh sensitivity up to 1 aM, which is higher than that of the nanomaterials-based or enzyme mediated amplification approaches by several orders of magnitude. More importantly, the sensor's responsive peak current exhibits a favorable linear correlation to the logarithm of the concentrations of target sequence ranging from 1 aM to 10 pM. In addition, the sensor is highly selective, and can discriminate a single mismatched sequence. This HCR-based genosensor is also capable of probing low-abundance BRCA-1 gene sequence directly in complex matrices, such as 50% human serum, with minimal interference. These advantages will make our tailor-engineered HCR-based electrochemical genosensor appealing to genetic analysis and clinical diagnostics.

In this work, the preparation and physiochemical characterization of tungsten, nitrogen and sulfur codoping TiO2 photocatalysts (W, N, S-TiO2) was undertaken. W, N, S-TiO2 nanoparticles were synthesized via the precipitation-impregnation method. To investigate the structural, optical, and electronic properties, the as-prepared W, N, S-TiO2 photocatalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and ultraviolet-visible diffuse reflection spectrum (DRS). W, N, S-TiO2 samples showed photo-absorption in the visible light region and higher visible light photocatalytic activity than TiO2. 0.011W, 0.030(N, S)-TiO2 exhibited the highest visible light photocatalytic activity, and the photocatalyic degradation activity of 0.011W,0.030(N,S)-TiO2 is nearly 10 times higher than that of TiO2. Compared with the undoped TiO2, the improved photocatalytic activity of W, N, S-TiO2 samples under visible light irradiation is attributed to the increase of the visible light absorption and the reduction in photogenerated electron-hole recombination.

Due to the particular seafloor environment and the special outer mechanical structure of the ocean bottom seismometer (OBS), there are some problems that have not been solved in the lithospheric structure inversion using the OBS teleseismic receiver functions. Based on the analysis of these problems, we combined the Fourier transform and wavelet analysis to suppress the non-stationary noise to obtain a better signal-to-noise ratio and clearer seismic phases recorded by the OBSs at the southwestern subbasin in the South China Sea (SCS). The equipment is a broadband OBS of I-4C type produced by the Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. We then inverted the lithospheric structure by successfully applying the receiver functions to the teleseismic data recorded at the southwestern subbasin in the SCS. The results show that it is feasible to use the receiver functions for the inversion of the lithosphere structure based on the passive observation data collected via the OBS, in which the key is to suppress the non-stationary noise. The Moho depth at the southwestern subbasin in the SCS is 10~12 km, with a crust thickness of 6~8 km. The shallow crust is a low velocity layer with sediment thickness 1~2 km, which consists of sediment and volcanic clastic breccia produced by the magma eruption after the spreading cessation. In the spreading axis center, a low S-wave velocity zone exists at the depths of 6 km to 12 km above the Moho. We interpreted this zone as the result of partial melting of the lower crust or the presence of a magma chamber. In the same area at the depths of 17 km to 30 km, the vertical S-wave velocity gradient is negative. We interpreted it as the result of the hot magma supply moving upward in the mantle.

Relativistic heavy-ion experiments have observed similar quenching effects for (prompt) $D$ mesons compared to charged hadrons for transverse momenta larger than 6-8~GeV, which remains a mystery since heavy quarks typically lose less energies in quark-gluon plasma than light quarks and gluons. Recent measurements of the nuclear modification factors of $B$ mesons and $B$-decayed $D$ mesons by the CMS Collaboration provide a unique opportunity to study the flavor hierarchy of jet quenching. Using a linear Boltzmann transport model combined with hydrodynamics simulation, we study the energy loss and nuclear modification for heavy and light flavor jets in high-energy nuclear collisions. By consistently taking into account both quark and gluon contributions to light and heavy flavor hadron productions within a next-to-leading order perturbative QCD framework, we obtain, for the first time, a satisfactory description of the experimental data on the nuclear modification factors for charged hadrons, $D$ mesons, $B$ mesons and $B$-decayed $D$ mesons simultaneously over a wide range of transverse momenta (8-300~GeV). This presents a solid solution to the flavor puzzle of jet quenching and constitutes a significant step towards the precision study of jet-medium interaction. Our study predicts that at transverse momenta larger than 30-40~GeV, $B$ mesons also exhibit similar suppression effects to charged hadrons and $D$ mesons, which may be tested by future measurements., Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures

We study the medium-induced gluon emission from a hard quark jet traversing the dense nuclear matter within the framework of deep inelastic scattering off a large nucleus. We extend the previous work and compute the single gluon emission spectrum including both transverse and longitudinal momentum exchanges between the hard jet parton and the medium constituents. On the other hand, with only transverse scattering and using static scattering centers for the traversed medium, our induced gluon emission spectrum in the soft gluon limit reduces to the Gyulassy-Levai-Vitev one-rescattering-one-emission formula., Comment: 16 pages, 13 figures

We perform a systematic study on the decorrelation of anisotropic flows along the pseudorapidity in relativistic heavy-ion collisions at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and BNL Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) energies. The dynamical evolution of the quark-gluon plasma fireball is simulated via the CLVisc (ideal) ($3+1$)-dimensional hydrodynamics model, with the fully fluctuating initial condition from the A-Multi-Phase-Transport (AMPT) model. A detailed analysis is performed of the longitudinal decorrelations of elliptic, triangular, and quadrangular flows in terms of flow vectors, flow magnitudes, and flow orientations (event planes). It is found that pure flow magnitudes have a smaller longitudinal decorrelation than pure flow orientations, and the decorrelation of flow vectors is a combined effect of both flow magnitudes and orientations. The longitudinal decorrelation of elliptic flow has a strong and nonmonotonic centrality dependence due to the initial elliptic collision geometry: the smallest decorrelation in midcentral collisions. In contrast, the decorrelations of triangular and quadrangular flows have a weak centrality dependence, with slightly larger decorrelations in more peripheral collisions. Our numerical results for Pb + Pb collisions at the LHC are in good agreement with the ATLAS data, while our RHIC results predict much larger longitudinal decorrelations compared to the LHC. We further analyze the longitudinal structures of the AMPT initial conditions and find that the final-state longitudinal decorrelation effects are strongly correlated with the lengths of the initial string structures in the AMPT model. The decorrelation effects are typically larger at lower collision energies and in more peripheral collisions due to the shorter lengths of the string structures in the initial states.

This paper presents the numerical solutions of flow around a surface-mounted square cylinder of aspect ratio h/d = 7 at Reynolds numbers of 652 and 13 041. The aim is to investigate the effect of the Reynolds number, between its medium-to-high range, on the flow and vortex structure around such a cylinder. The present simulations have successfully reproduced the primary flow, as well as the three-dimensional large-scale vortex structure in the wake of the finite wall-mounted body. The observation of base vortices, tip vortices, and a horseshoe vortex is consistent with previous experimental studies. A dipole wake is captured at the higher Reynolds number, while a quadrupole wake is captured for the lower, indicating that the Reynolds number strongly influences the wake structure. In the near-wake region, by plotting the isosurface of instantaneous second invariant of the velocity gradient, the full-loop structure is observed for the quadrupole wake, while the half-loop structure is observed for the dipole wake. In the far-wake region, a braided vortex structure formed by asymmetric hairpin vortices is observed at both Reynolds numbers and a new wake topology is proposed for flows with a similar geometry.This paper presents the numerical solutions of flow around a surface-mounted square cylinder of aspect ratio h/d = 7 at Reynolds numbers of 652 and 13 041. The aim is to investigate the effect of the Reynolds number, between its medium-to-high range, on the flow and vortex structure around such a cylinder. The present simulations have successfully reproduced the primary flow, as well as the three-dimensional large-scale vortex structure in the wake of the finite wall-mounted body. The observation of base vortices, tip vortices, and a horseshoe vortex is consistent with previous experimental studies. A dipole wake is captured at the higher Reynolds number, while a quadrupole wake is captured for the lower, indicating that the Reynolds number strongly influences the wake structure. In the near-wake region, by plotting the isosurface of instantaneous second invariant of the velocity gradient, the full-loop structure is observed for the quadrupole wake, while the half-loop structure is observed for the dipole...