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Plasmonic coupling among nanocavities creates a significant collective response of near-field enhancement, leading to numerous applications such as extraordinary optical transmittance, enhanced spectroscopy, energy harvesting, photo-enhanced catalysis, meta-lens, etc. We report here a perturbation theory based on the two-body interaction potential to clarify the plasmonic coupling between/among nanocavities. With this theory, we demonstrated that one can calculate the near-field distribution of a cluster of nanocavities and that the results are in agreement with simulations by the finite element method and those measured by a scanning near-field optical microscope. The perturbation theory offers an effective way in dealing with the plasmonic coupling behavior of nanocavities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Uncertainties about the efficacy of influenza vaccination for populations with heart failure (HF) in preventing cardiovascular outcomes, as well as lack of effective vaccination strategies, may contribute to low vaccine coverage rate (VCR) in China and globally. We assessed the feasibility of a strategy to promote influenza vaccines in patients hospitalized with acute HF in China and to inform the design of a hybrid effectiveness-implementation cluster randomized trial to evaluate this strategy on mortality and hospital re-admission. We conducted a cluster randomized pilot trial involving 11 hospitals in Henan Province in China, with mixed-methods evaluation between December 2020 and April 2021. A process evaluation involved interviews with 51 key informants (patients, health professionals, policy makers). The intervention included education about influenza vaccination and availability of free vaccines administered prior to hospital discharge for HF patients, while usual care included attending community-based points of vaccination (PoV) for screening and vaccination. Implementation outcomes focused on reach, fidelity, adoption, and acceptability. Recruitment rates were assessed for trial feasibility. Effectiveness outcomes were influenza VCR, HF-specific rehospitalizations and mortality at 90 days. A total of 518 HF patients were recruited from 7 intervention and 4 usual care hospitals (mean of 45 participants per hospital per month). VCR was 89.9% (311/346, 86.1-92.8%) in the intervention group and 0.6% (1/172, 0.0-3.7%) in the control group. The process evaluation demonstrated reach to patients with lower socioeconomic and education status. There was good fidelity of the intervention components, with education and PoV set up processes being adapted to local hospital workflow and workforce capacity. Intervention was acceptable and adopted by patients and health professionals. However, outside of a trial setting, concerns were raised around vaccination reimbursement costs, workforce accountability and capacity. The intervention strategy appears feasible and acceptable for improving VCR in HF patients at county-level hospitals in China. Trial registration: This pilot trial is registered with the acronym PANDA II Pilot (Population Assessment of Influenza and Disease Activity) at ChiCTR.org.cn (ChiCTR2000039081).

Measurement of the real strength value of near-field electric fields is of great importance for understanding light–matter interactions in nanophotonics, which is a big challenge in the field. We developed in this study a theory and approaches for directly measuring the real strength of near-field electric fields by scattering type scanning near-field optical microscope (s-SNOM). The validity of the theory and approaches was confirmed by comparing s-SNOM measurement results with the finite element method simulations. Our efforts enable s-SNOM as a quantitative tool in clarifying light–matter interactions in a variety of fields, such as all-optical chips, plasmon-induced catalysis, metamaterials and metasurfaces, enhanced spectroscopy, and van der Waals materials, etc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Achieving subwavelength optical focusing is of great importance in nanophotonics. However, achieving focusing with both a small focal spot size and a large focal length remains elusive so far. Here, a large focal length planar focusing device is presented, utilizing highly oriented Dyakonov polaritons in hyperbolic metamaterial with periodic silver rings as the excitation source. Experimental results show that by controlling the size of the excitation sources, the focal length can reach 6 λ 0 (where λ 0 is the illumination wavelength), and the focal spot size can be reduced to λ 0 /10. This method provides new prospects for planar polariton optical applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to clarify the reasons for the emergence of problems such as high machining difficulty and poor machining surface quality encountered in the machining process of SiCp/Al composites, this paper presents a simulation study of the deformation mechanism occurring during the cutting process of SiCp/Al (SiC particle-reinforced Al matrix composites) by using the molecular dynamics (MD) method. The mechanism of strengthening and hardening occurring during cutting of SiCp/Al composites is discussed in terms of the slip expansion of dislocations and the interaction between different types of dislocations. It is found that the presence of SiC balls hinders the slip and expansion of dislocations in the Al (aluminum) matrix, resulting in the strengthening of the Al matrix between the SiC (silicon carbide) balls, mainly because the dislocations in the workpiece interact with each other during the cutting process to form dislocation tangles, stacking layer dislocations and dislocation locks, which hinder the slip and expansion of dislocations and thus increase the strength of the Al matrix. By analyzing the stress distribution inside the workpiece during the cutting process, it is found that the stress inside the workpiece is mainly concentrated in the area where the tool flank face is in contact with the workpiece, which is the main reason for the occurrence of working hardening in SiCp/Al composites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the Johnson-Cook constitutive model is modified by considering the influence of hard point such as TiC and NbC in the matrix of Inconel718 on the deformation stress. The theoretical model of cutting specific energy in the main deformation zone of Inconel718 is modified based on the new constitutive model by combining the strain gradient theory. The effect of different cutting parameters on cutting specific energy is studied, and the effect of cutting specific energy on cutting deformation and the resulting dimensional effect are also analyzed. The research results show that cutting specific energy increases with the increase of cutting speed. With the increase of cutting thickness, the cutting specific energy reduced, and the trend is non-linear. The change of undeformed chip thickness will cause size effect. The cutting specific energy increases with the reduction of the thickness of undeformed chip, and the impact of the thickness of undeformed chip on the cutting specific energy becomes smaller and smaller as the speed increases. The existence of hard points makes the main deformation zone generate a large amount of heat energy and deformation energy, which leads to dimensional effects and makes the material be more prone to adiabatic shear instability, then leads to the increase of cutting specific energy. With the increase of cutting specific energy, the width of adiabatic shear band is narrowed, the degree of serration is aggravated, and the chip morphology is closer to the experimental results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]