Search

Using traditional materials to improve the permeability of silty soils can cause irreversible damage to the environment. Therefore, it is necessary to develop environmentally friendly biopolymers, such as xanthan gum (XG), to replace traditional materials to improve resistance to water erosion by reducing the permeability coefficient. In this study, a series of permeability tests and scanning electron microscope (SEM) tests were conducted on xanthan gum-improved silty soil (XGS). The variations in the permeability coefficient of XG-improved silty soil and the effects of initial dry density, XG-soil ratio, and curing age on the permeability were investigated. Test results show that the permeability coefficient of XGS decreased with the increase of initial dry density, XG-soil ratio, and curing age. With increasing the initial dry density, soil particles compressed against each other, decreasing the actual water flow crossing area, which leads to a decrease in the permeability coefficient. With the increase of the XG-soil ratio, the fill-blocking effect of xanthan gum with hydrogel connections becomes more and more obvious, which leads to a reduction in the permeability coefficient. Xanthan gum hydration takes time, and a lot of crystals are produced in XGS as the curing age increases; these crystals fill larger pores, resulting in the permeability coefficient decrease. At last, a model was developed to predict the permeability coefficient of XG-improved silty soil by using the initial dry density, XG-soil ratio, and curing age. The model can be used to rapidly predict the permeability coefficient of the improved silty soil under different conditions. This research can provide a scientific basis for the safe and scientific application of xanthan gum in seepage damage control and prevention projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adding different materials to soil can improve its engineering properties, but traditional materials such as cement, lime, fly ash, etc., have caused pollution to the environment. Recently, biopolymers have shown many advantages, such as economy and environmental protection, which make them applicable to geotechnical engineering. This study summarizes the effects of biopolymers on soil's engineering properties and the main directions of current research. Firstly, the advantages and disadvantages of a variety of widely used biopolymer materials and their effects on the specific engineering characteristics of soil (i.e., water retention characteristics, strength characteristics, permeability characteristics, microstructure) are introduced, as well as the source, viscosity, pH, and cost of these biopolymers. Then, based on the theory of unsaturated soil, the current research progress on the water retention characteristics of improved soil is summarized. The key factors affecting the strength of biopolymer-treated soil are introduced. Due to the actual environmental conditions, such as rainfall, the permeability and durability of biopolymer-treated soil are also worthy of attention. In summary, it is necessary to study the variation laws of the engineering properties of biopolymer-treated soil in the full suction range, and to predict such laws reasonably. The relevant results are conducive to the safer and more scientific application of biopolymers in geotechnical engineering practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To remove the limitation that the plane stress problem cannot be considered using cylindrical cavity expansion and to explore surface response of cylinder expansion in shallow soil, a semi-analytical undrained solution is developed for cylindrical cavity expansion in anisotropic modified Cam-clay model soils under the plane stress condition. The constitutive relationship is described by the K0-consolidated anisotropic modified Cam-clay (K0-AMCC) model, which can properly simulate the mechanical behaviour of the K0-consolidated natural clays. The problem is equivalent to solving ordinary differential equations to determine the effective stresses, vertical strain, and excess pore water pressure (EPWP). Parametric analyses are conducted to investigate the effective stresses, vertical strain, and EPWPs around the expanded cavity under plane stress condition. The results show a clear influence of over-consolidation ratio on the stresses, vertical strain, EPWP around the cavity, and effective stress paths for a soil particle at the cavity wall. Axial expansion or uplift of soil and negative pore water pressure are observed during cavity expansion under the plane stress condition. There are obvious differences in effective stress components around the cavity under two plane conditions. The effective axial stress around the cavity wall is generally smaller than that under the plane strain condition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The silt deposited in the Yellow River floodplains in China is weak and widely dispersed. In engineering practice, chemically modified agents such as lime and fly ash are frequently employed to enhance the hydro-mechanical behaviour of soils, which however generates significant amounts of CO 2. As an environmentally friendly soil improvement material, Xanthan gum has broad application prospects and is therefore being considered as a solidified material to improve silty soil, which meets the national strategy requirements of ecological protection and high-quality development in the Yellow River Basin. In this study, scanning electron microscope, WP4C apparatus, and an automatic direct shear test system were used to perform several microscopic, water-retention behaviour, and direct shear tests on Xanthan gum-treated silt in drying and wetting paths. According to test results, the differences in shear strength behavior were observed in drying and wetting paths. The average skeleton stress of untreated silt in the drying path is greater than that in the wetting path due to the hysteresis effect, and thus the shear strength in the drying path is higher than that in the wetting path. Xanthan gum-treated silt specimens in the wetting path first were cured at a relative humidity of 47% and temperature of 24°C for seven days, and then were wetted to different water contents. The microstructure of the Xanthan gum-treated silt in the wetting path became firmer, and thus the shear strength was higher than that in the drying path. There is also the hysteretic effect of Xanthan gum-treated silt. However, the curing age is the most important factor affecting this phenomenon. Our findings can serve as a scientific foundation for designing, constructing, and maintaining relevant geotechnical structures in the Yellow River flooded area. • The microstructure of Xanthan-treated silt is firmer than that of untreated silt. • Water retention characteristics of Xanthan-treated silt was obtained in wide suction range. • Shear strength of treated silt in drying and wetting paths was studied quantitatively. • Shear strength of untreated silt in drying path is higher than that in wetting path. • Shear strength of treated silt in wetting path is higher than that in drying path. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of dopants on deformation and mechanical properties of 4H silicon carbide (4H-SiC) is proposed by using nanoindentation. It is found that the hardness, elastic modulus, and fracture toughness of 4H-SiC substrate wafers all decrease on the order of vanadium (V) doping, undoping, and nitrogen (N) doping. For all three types of 4H-SiC, basal plane dislocations (BPDs), threading edge dislocations, and cracks are formed during the nanoindentation. Polymorph transitions from 4H-SiC to amorphous SiC and 3C-SiC are found as the penetration depth of the indent increases from the subsurface to the deeper region. N doping is found to weaken the bond strength of 4H-SiC, which enhances the glide and piling up of BPDs in nanoindentated N-doped 4H-SiC. In contrast, V doping effectively hinders the glide of BPDs, which accumulates a high-stress field and facilitates the polymorph transition from 4H-SiC to 3C-SiC and amorphous SiC. The insight on the effects of dopants on the deformation and mechanical properties of 4H-SiC may help the design of the processing of differently doped 4H-SiC substrate wafers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To date, tremendous progress in flexible devices based on OIHP films has been achieved, such as light-emitting diodes (LEDs), photodetectors, solar cells and lasers (Fig. In future investigations, it may be possible to realize mid-and-far infrared LEDs by using ultrathin OIHPs according to their excellent bandgap tunability via thickness and doping engineering [[5]]. The past decade has witnessed an explosion of research into organic-inorganic hybrid perovskites (OIHPs) due to their outstanding properties, including high flexibility, high absorption/emission efficiency, large defect tolerance and long-distance carrier diffusion [[1]]. [Extracted from the article]

• Water retention characteristics of biopolymer-treated sandy soil in wide suction range. • The microscopic mechanism was explained. • The water retention capacity of treated sandy soil increases as the biopolymer ratio increases. • The water retention capacity of the Gellan gum-treated sandy soil is better than that of Xanthan gum-treated sandy soil. • Based on Fredlund-Xing model, a semi-empirical model was proposed for predicting the soil–water retention curve of biopolymer- treated sandy soil. Soil erosion in the Yellow River basin in China has seriously affected the stability of the foundations of civil engineering structures. Traditional treated materials used for preventing the soil erosion are often harmful to the environment. Biopolymers have been widely used for soil improvement because of their low cost, environmental friendliness, and feasible application. However, most studies on the water-retention behaviour of treated soils conducted to date have focused on the low or high suction range, while few have examined the behaviour over a wide suction range. Converting the saturated state of treated soils into unsaturated state until it is completely dry will lead to changes in the water retention behaviour of biopolymer-treated soils. Therefore, this study investigated variations in the water-retention behaviour and micromechanism of biopolymer-treated sandy soils over a wide range of suction. Specifically, the water-retention behaviour of treated soil was tested using a pressure plate apparatus in the low suction range and a WP4C apparatus in the high suction range. Scanning electron microscopy was also used to evaluate water-retention mechanism of soils treated with different ratios of biopolymer. Biopolymers were found to absorb water to form hydrogels and biofilms, which reduced the pore spaces between soil particles and improved the water storage ability of sandy soils. The water-retention capacity of both Xanthan gum and Gellan gum-treated sandy soils was higher than that of untreated sandy soils, and increased as the biopolymer ratio increased. The water-retention behaviour of the Gellan gum-treated sandy soil were better than that of the Xanthan gum-treated sandy soil. Finally, a prediction model of the soil–water retention curve that considered the biopolymer ratio was proposed based on the Fredlund-Xing model. This study provides a scientific basis for the application of biopolymers to control soil erosion in the Yellow River basin in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reviews the research progress of measurement techniques and materials on the mechanocaloric effect over the past few decades. Mechanocaloric materials can be divided into elastocaloric and barocaloric materials depending on the applied uniaxial stress or hydrostatic pressure. Elastocaloric materials include non-magnetic shape memory alloys, polymers, and rare-earth compounds. Barocaloric materials include magnetic shape memory alloys, ferroelectric ceramics, superionic conductors, and oxyfluorides. The mechanocaloric effects of these classes of materials are systematically compared in terms of the isothermal entropy change and adiabatic temperature change. In addition to the thermal effects, other characteristics closely related to the application of mechanocaloric materials are also summarized. Finally, perspectives for further development of mechanocaloric materials in the solid-state cooling area are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A series of wetting tests on unsaturated compacted GMZ07 sodium bentonite, taken from the Gaomiaozi area, Inner Mongolia, China, was performed to investigate the swelling characteristics of the GMZ07 sodium bentonite at temperatures of 5, 20, 60 and 75 °C. The influences of temperature and initial dry density on swelling deformation and swelling pressure were studied by performing a series of constant-stress and constant-volume tests under the wetting condition. The test results showed that the swelling deformation and swelling pressure due to saturation decreased slightly with increasing temperature. A linear relationship was present between the vertical pressure and corresponding saturated void ratio in the semi-logarithmic coordinate at a given temperature; this line is referred to as a state line. Swelling or collapse due to saturation was found to be dependent on the relative location of the initial state between the state line and initial state. The void ratios after saturation at different initial dry densities were close at the same temperature and vertical pressure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many civil engineering projects are related to hydro-mechanical behavior of unsaturated expansive soils over a wide suction range, which was investigated by imposing suctions on an expansive soil using the axis-translation technique and the vapor equilibrium technique with saturated salt solution in this paper. Water retention test results on compacted expansive soil show that void ratio keeps decreasing along with increasing the suction in an entire suction range (from 0 to about 1000 MPa), and the soil–water retention curves in terms of gravimetric water content versus suction relation are independent of the dry density or void ratio when the suction is higher than 250 kPa. Therefore, the mechanical tests on an unsaturated expansive soil with constant water content can be considered as that at constant suction when suction is higher than 250 kPa. The stress–strain behavior at different constant suctions in the entire suction range measured from triaxial shear tests under a constant net confining stress shows that the strength and stress–strain curve of specimens with higher suction are higher than those with lower suction and the higher the suction, the more dilative the specimens. The strain softening appears when the suction is higher than a specific value and the appearance of strain softening is related to the sliding surface. The tested compacted expansive soil with extremely high suctions (i.e., 38.0 and 368 MPa) shows distinct peak strength, strain-softening and dilative behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have designed and implemented a novel DLD for controlling pressure and compression/decompression rate. Combined with the use of the symmetric diamond anvil cells (DACs), the DLD adopts three piezo-electric (PE) actuators and three static load screws to remotely control pressure in accurate and consistent manner at room temperature. This device allows us to create different loading mechanisms and frames for a variety of existing and commonly used diamond cells rather than designing specialized or dedicated diamond cells with various drives. The sample pressure compression/decompression rate that we have achieved is up to 58.6/43.3 TPa/s, respectively. The minimum of load time is less than 1 ms. The DLD is a powerful tool for exploring the effects of rapid (de)compression on the structure of materials and the properties of materials. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Hydrogeological conditions at the Dongzhuang Hydro-Junction site are complex and include underground water divides, a hanging river and hydraulic drops along faults. The site suffers from seepage because of its location in karst terrain. This study addresses dam bypass leakage at the Dongzhuang site and deficiencies in the regional groundwater seepage model. A hydrological conceptual model is generated, as well as a regional numerical simulation of groundwater flow based on analysis of the geology and hydrogeology of the dam site and surrounding area. From the analysis, a detailed 3D model of the groundwater flow field at the dam site is established, in which permeability and precipitation infiltration parameters are corrected using the inversion method. Leakage quantities are calculated for three different conditions: natural state, regular dam impoundment with an impervious curtain, and regular dam impoundment without an impervious curtain. The results show that underground water flows from west to east during all three conditions. The leakage quantity bypassing the dam region without anti-seepage treatment is 220,000 m 3 /d, with seepage concentrated around the dam foundation, dam abutments and the river bend of the reservoir head. Leakage in these areas accounts for 72% of the total leakage in the study area. However, when an impervious curtain is included in the model, the total leakage quantity is reduced to 51,000 m 3 /d and seepage concentrates along the banks of the reservoir. The 3D numerical model of regional groundwater flow is promising in that it can simulate complex hydrogeological conditions, and the accuracy and confidence levels improve when a detailed 3D model of groundwater flow at the dam site is added to the regional model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quasi-two-dimensional magnetite epitaxial thin films have been synthesized by pulsed laser deposition technique at various oxygen pressures. The saturation magnetizations of the magnetite films were found to decrease from 425 emu/cm 3 , which is close to the bulk value, to 175 emu/cm 3 as the growth atmospheres varying from high vacuum (∼1 × 10 −8 mbar) to oxygen pressure of 1 × 10 −3 mbar. The ratio of the Fe 3+ to Fe 2+ increases from 2 to 2.7 as oxygen pressure increasing shown by XPS fitting, which weakens the net magnetic moment generated by Fe 2+ at octahedral sites as the spins of the Fe 3+ ions at octahedral and tetrahedral sites are aligned in antiparallel. The results offer direct experimental evidence of the influence to the Fe 3+ /Fe 2+ ratio and the magnetic moment in magnetite epitaxy films by oxygen pressure, which is significant for spintronic applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Most migraineurs develop cutaneous allodynia (CA) during migraine, and the underlying mechanism of CA in migraine is thought to be sensitization of the third-order trigeminovascular neurons in the posterior thalamic nuclei. This study aimed to investigate whether the ascending/descending pathway associated with the thalamus is disturbed in migraineurs with CA (MWCA) using effective connectivity analysis of resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging. Methods: Thirty four migraineurs without aura (14 MWCA and 20 migraineurs without CA (MWoCA)) and 25 matched healthy controls (HC) were recruited in the study. The effective connectivity pathways associated with the posterior thalamus (PTH) were investigated using the Granger causality analysis. We chose bilateral PTH as two individual seeds, and compared MWCA with MWoCA and HC, respectively. Spearman correlation analysis was performed to test the correlation between the abnormal effective connectivity and the allodynia severity of MWCA. Results: Compared with MWoCA, MWCA showed decreased inflows from the left limbic regions and dorsal medial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC) to the ipsilateral PTH, as well as increased inflow from the right ventral medial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) to the ipsilateral PTH; no significantly different outflows from the bilateral PTH to other regions were found. Compared with HC, MWCA showed increased outflows from the left PTH to the bilateral vmPFC, decreased outflows from the right PTH to the bilateral temporoparietal areas, decreased inflow from the left parietooccipital area to the ipsilateral PTH, and increased inflows from the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and the bilateral temporoparietal areas to the right PTH. Correlation analyses revealed that the disturbed connectivities between PTH and cuneus, as well as PTH and middle frontal gyrus were associated with the allodynia severity of MWCA. Conclusions: MWCA demonstrated disrupted effective connection pathways between the PTH and other cortical or subcortical regions that participated in multi-dimentional pain processing. Our findings highlight the dysfunctional ascending and descending pain network at the thalamic-level and may help to illuminate the possible pathophysiologic mechanisms of CA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a number of experimental results of suction-controlled triaxial tests on a compacted weakly expansive soil with different suctions and suction histories. In terms of suction control methods, the high suction level (from 3.29 to 38 MPa) was realized by the vapor equilibrium technique and the low suction level (from 0 to 800 kPa) was controlled by the axis translation technique. Results of the triaxial tests indicate that the specimen with higher suction shows higher strength and lower contractive and higher dilative volumetric strains, and the average skeleton stress ratio ( q/ p′) at failure decreases with increasing suction in the high suction range (3.29∼38 MPa). Given that suction during shearing is constant (e.g., 200 kPa), the specimen dried to a higher suction and the history shows higher strength and lower contractive volumetric strain. Experimental results also show that high pre-applied suction (i.e., the maximum suction in the history) can lead to peak strength, post-peak softening, and shear dilation. Three different methods (pressure plate, filter paper, and vapor equilibrium) were employed to study the soil-water retention behaviour of the unsaturated expansive soil. Test results indicate that by combining these three different methods, it is possible to determine the SWCC in the entire suction range (0∼367 MPa). Test results of the expansive soil also show that the void ratio keeps decreasing with increasing suction in the entire suction range. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We demonstrated the effect of superparamagnetic Fe3O4 nanoparticles on the Schottky barriers of graphene, in which the Fe3O4 nanoparticles were fabricated by a hydrothermal method, and the single-layer graphene sheets were mechanically exfoliated from Kish graphite. The Fe3O4 nanoparticles were superparamagnetic with the saturation magnetic moment of $\sim 32$ emu/g at room temperature. We have found that the Fe3O4 nanoparticles decorated on the graphene surface can dramatically modify the Schottky barriers of the whole devices possibly due to the magnetic stray field from the Fe3O4 nanoparticles in proximity to graphene. The Schottky barrier could be further tuned by the quantity of Fe3O4 nanoparticles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

DNA repair, in particular, DNA double-strand break (DSB) repair, is essential for the survival of both normal and cancer cells. An elaborate repair mechanism has been developed in cells to efficiently repair the damaged DNA. The pathways predominately involved in DSB repair are homologous recombination and classic nonhomologous end-joining, although the alternative NHEJ pathway, a third DSB repair pathway, could also be important in certain contexts. The protein of BRCA1 encoded by the tumor suppressor gene BRCA1 regulates all DSB repair pathways. Given that DSBs represent the most biologically significant lesions induced by ionizing radiation and that impaired DSB repair leads to radiation sensitivity, it has been expected that cancer patients with BRCA1 mutations should benefit from radiation therapy. However, the clinical data have been conflicting and inconclusive. We provide an overview about the current status of the data regarding BRCA1 deficiency and radiation therapy sensitivity in both experimental models and clinical investigations. In addition, we discuss a strategy to potentiate the effects of radiation therapy by poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase inhibitors, the pharmacologic drugs being investigated as monotherapy for the treatment of patients with BRCA1/2 mutations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective Cutaneous allodynia (CA) is a characteristic of central sensitization, predicting migraine progression, and poor response to therapy. The present study aimed to find out the cerebral functional alterations related to the establishment of central sensitization in migraineurs using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Design The experiment was performed in 15 migraineurs with Cutaneous allodynia (MWCA) and 19 patients without Cutaneous allodynia (MWoCA) in the interictal phase, and 20 matched healthy controls. Blood oxygen level dependent-fMRI was applied in all subjects when they were given transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation at the left medial forearm, achieving to a predetermined level of pain sensation (i.e., visual analogue scale [VAS] = 40). Contrast images were then produced to determine whether this disorders present functional changes in the brain during pain processing. Results Demographic and headache characteristics were balanced between groups. The contrast images of both migraine groups comparing to healthy controls exhibited weaker activation of various brain regions (e.g., cerebellum and insulae), which might be relevant to the pathophysiological procedure of migraine. The direct comparison between the two migraine groups revealed that activation in the dorsal pons and contralateral (right) inferior parietal lobule of MWCA subjects were significantly lower than it in MWoCA ones. Conclusions The interictal dysfunction of pain processing pathway may be responsible for (at least relevant to) central sensitization in migraine patients, via abnormal modulations of nociceptive transmission. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The near- T c behaviors Cr 1/3 NbS 2 are demonstrated simply by magneto-transport measurement. • An anomalous positive MR has been observed as the second-order phase transition caused by thermal. • The abnormal negative MR continues to increase even above H c , and this behavior becomes more pronounced near T c. • A near- T c magnetic phase diagram of Cr 1/3 NbS 2 has been plotted with only using MR measurements. Many interesting physical phenomena emerge in the vicinity of phase transition temperature (T c) for magnetic materials. However, it remains a big challenge to elucidate the near- T c behaviors of chiral helimagnets, owing to their diversified magnetic interactions and complicated phase transitions. Here, we have systematically studied the near- T c properties of a chiral helimagnet Cr 1/3 NbS 2 by magnetotransport measurements with fine tuning of temperature and magnetic field. An anomalous positive magnetoresistance (MR) appears around the critical field (H c) in a narrow temperature range (~ 128–132 K), which can be attributed to the competing scattering effects on electrons between the chiral magnetic order and thermal fluctuation near critical point. Moreover, the negative MR continues to increase even above H c , and this behavior becomes more pronounced near T c. Based on the MR results, a near- T c magnetic phase diagram of Cr 1/3 NbS 2 is presented, with a particular emphasis on the determination of internal phase boundary of chiral soliton lattice (CSL). This work gains an insight on the near- T c behaviors of chiral magnetic materials and sheds light on the related electronic and spintronic applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Neuroimaging studies have shown that major depressive disorder (MDD) is accompanied by structural and functional abnormalities in specific brain regions and connections; yet, little is known about alterations of the topological organization of whole-brain networks in MDD patients. Methods: Thirty drug-naive, first-episode MDD patients and 63 healthy control subjects underwent a resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging scan. The whole-brain functional networks were constructed by thresholding partial correlation matrices of 90 brain regions, and their topological properties (e.g., small-world, efficiency, and nodal centrality) were analyzed using graph theory-based approaches. Nonparametric permutation tests were further used for group comparisons of topological metrics. Results: Both the MDD and control groups showed small-world architecture in brain functional networks, suggesting a balance between functional segregation and integration. However, compared with control subjects, the MDD patients showed altered quantitative values in the global properties, characterized by lower path length and higher global efficiency, implying a shift toward randomization in their brain networks. The MDD patients exhibited increased nodal centralities, predominately in the caudate nucleus and default-mode regions, including the hippocampus, inferior parietal, medial frontal, and parietal regions, and reduced nodal centralities in the occipital, frontal (orbital part), and temporal regions. The altered nodal centralities in the left hippocampus and the left caudate nucleus were correlated with disease duration and severity. Conclusions: These results suggest that depressive disorder is associated with disruptions in the topological organization of functional brain networks and that this disruption may contribute to disturbances in mood and cognition in MDD patients. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Mediator of DNA damage checkpoint protein-1 (MDC1) is a recently identified nuclear protein that participates in DNA-damage sensing and signaling. Here we report that knockdown of MDC1 by RNA interference results in cellular hypersensitivity to the DNA cross-linking agent mitomycin C and ionizing radiation and in impaired homology-mediated repair of double-strand breaks in DNA. MDC1 forms a complex with Rad51 through a direct interaction with the forkhead-associated domain of MDC1, not the BRCA1 C-terminal domain. Depletion of MDC1 results in impaired formation of Rad51 ionizing radiation–induced foci, reduced amounts of nuclear and chromatin-bound Rad51, and a corresponding increase in Rad51 protein degradation. Together, our findings suggest that MDC1 functions in Rad51-mediated homologous recombination by retaining Rad51 in chromatin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Basal plane dislocations (BPDs) are one of the most harmful dislocations in 4H silicon carbide (4H-SiC). Understanding the nucleation of BPDs is the basis of reducing the density of BPDs in 4H-SiC. In this work, we investigate the nucleation mechanism of BPDs, as well as the effect of doping on the nucleation of BPDs in 4H-SiC using nanoindentation. It is found that the shear stress plays a dominant role in the nucleation of BPDs in undoped 4H-SiC. This indicates that the shear component of the thermal stress during the growth of 4H-SiC single crystals and that of the mechanical stress during the processing of 4H-SiC wafers both give rise to the nucleation of BPDs. Nitrogen (N) doping is found to facilitate the nucleation of BPDs and decrease the shear stress required for the nucleation of BPDs. In contrast, vanadium (V) doping hinders the nucleation of BPDs, which promotes the polymorph transition from 4H-SiC to 3C-SiC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Basal plane dislocations (BPDs) are one of the most harmful dislocations in 4H silicon carbide (4H-SiC). Understanding the nucleation of BPDs is the basis of reducing the density of BPDs in 4H-SiC. In this work, we investigate the nucleation mechanism of BPDs, as well as the effect of doping on the nucleation of BPDs in 4H-SiC using nanoindentation. It is found that the shear stress plays a dominant role in the nucleation of BPDs in undoped 4H-SiC. This indicates that the shear component of the thermal stress during the growth of 4H-SiC single crystals and that of the mechanical stress during the processing of 4H-SiC wafers both give rise to the nucleation of BPDs. Nitrogen (N) doping is found to facilitate the nucleation of BPDs and decrease the shear stress required for the nucleation of BPDs. In contrast, vanadium (V) doping hinders the nucleation of BPDs, which promotes the polymorph transition from 4H-SiC to 3C-SiC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper develops a similarity solution for undrained cylindrical cavity contraction in anisotropic modified Cam-clay (AMCC) model soil. An AMCC model incorporating the spatially mobilized plane (SMP) criterion is used to model the behaviors of soil during cavity contraction. Based on the equilibrium equation, constitutive equation, consistency equation, continuity equation and the undrained condition, the problem is reduced to solving a system of first-order ordinary differential equations. The proposed solution is validated by a FLAC3D numerical model and compared with the solution that does not incorporate SMP criterion to demonstrate the effects of three-dimensional strength on the cavity contraction responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Individuals with methamphetamine use disorder (MUD) often experience anxiety and depressive symptoms during abstinence, which can worsen the likelihood of relapse. Thus, it is essential to understand the neuro‐mechanism behind methamphetamine use and its associated emotional withdrawal symptoms in order to develop effective clinical strategies. This study aimed to evaluate associations between emotional withdrawal symptoms and structural covariance networks (SCNs) based on cortical thickness (CTh) across the brain. The CTh measures were obtained from Tl‐weighted MRI data from a sample of 48 males with MUD during abstinence and 48 male healthy controls. The severity of anxiety and depressive symptoms was assessed by the Hamilton Anxiety Scale (HAMA) and depression (HAMD) scales. Two important nodes belonging to the brain reward system, the right rostral anterior cingulate cortex (rACC) and medial prefrontal cortex (medPFC), were selected as seeds to conduct SCNs and modulation analysis by emotional symptoms. MUDs showed higher structural covariance between the right rACC and regions in the dorsal attention, right frontoparietal, auditory, visual and limbic networks. They also displayed higher structural covariance between the right medPFC and regions in the limbic network. Moreover, the modulation analysis showed that higher scores on HAMA were associated with increased covariance between the right rACC and the left parahippocampal and isthmus cingulate cortex in the default mode network. These outcomes shed light on the complex neurobiological mechanisms underlying methamphetamine use and its associated emotional withdrawal symptoms and may provide new insights into the development of effective treatments for MUD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transient receptor potential vanilloid 4 (TRPV4) is a widely expressed cation channel that plays an important role in many physiological and pathological processes. However, most TRPV4 drugs carry a risk of side effects. Moreover, existing screening methods are not suitable for the high-throughput screening (HTS) of drugs. In this study, a cell model and HTS method for targeting TRPV4 channel drugs were established based on a calcium-activated chloride channel protein 1 Anoctamin 1 (ANO1) and a double mutant (YFP-H148Q/I152L) of the yellow fluorescent protein (YFP). Patch-clamp experiments and fluorescence quenching kinetic experiments were used to verify that the model could sensitively detect changes in intracellular Ca2+ concentration. The functionality of the TRPV4 cell model was examined through temperature variations and different concentrations of TRPV4 modulators, and the performance of the model in HTS was also evaluated. The model was able to sensitively detect changes in the intracellular Ca2+ concentration and also excelled at screening TRPV4 drugs, and the model was more suitable for HTS. We successfully constructed a drug cell screening model targeting the TRPV4 channel, which provides a tool to study the pathophysiological functions of TRPV4 in vitro. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Recently, deep learning technologies have rapidly expanded into medical image analysis, including both disease detection and classification. As far as we know, migraine is a disabling and common neurological disorder, typically characterized by unilateral, throbbing and pulsating headaches. Unfortunately, a large number of migraineurs do not receive the accurate diagnosis when using traditional diagnostic criteria based on the guidelines of the International Headache Society. As such, there is substantial interest in developing automated methods to assist in the diagnosis of migraine.Methods: To the best of our knowledge, no studies have evaluated the potential of deep learning technologies in assisting with the classification of migraine patients. Here, we used deep learning methods in combination with three functional measures (the amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations, regional homogeneity and regional functional correlation strength) based on rs-fMRI data to distinguish not only between migraineurs and healthy controls, but also between the two subtypes of migraine. We employed 21 migraine patients without aura, 15 migraineurs with aura, and 28 healthy controls.Results: Compared with the traditional support vector machine classifier, which has an accuracy of 83.67%, our Inception module-based convolutional neural network approach showed a significant improvement in classification output (over 86.18%). Our data also indicate that the Inception module-based CNN performs better than the AlexNet-based CNN (Inception module-based CNN reached an accuracy of 99.25%). Finally, we also found that regional functional correlation strength (RFCS) could be regarded as the optimum input out of the three indices (ALFF, ReHo, RFCS).Conclusions: Overall, our study shows that combining the three functional measures of rs-fMRI with deep learning classification is a powerful method to distinguish between migraineurs and healthy individuals. Our data also highlight that deep learning-based frameworks could be used to develop more complicated models or systems to aid in clinical decision making in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Major depressive disorder is a common comorbidity in migraineurs. Depression may affect the progression and prognosis of migraine. Few studies have examined the brain function in migraineurs that may cause this comorbidity. Here, we aimed to explore depression-related abnormalities in the intrinsic brain activity of interictal migraineurs with comorbid depression using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging.Results: Significant main effects of migraine and depression provided evidence that migraine and depression jointly affected the left medial prefrontal cortex, which was thought to be the neural basis of self-referential mental activity in previous studies. Abnormalities in this region may contribute to determining the common symptoms of migraine and depression and even result in comorbidity. Additionally, migraineurs with comorbid depression had different developmental trajectories in the right thalamus and fusiform, which were associated with recognizing, transmitting, controlling and remembering pain and emotion.Conclusions: Based on our findings, the abnormal mPFC which may contribute to determining the common symptoms in migraine and depression and may be a therapeutic target for migraineurs comorbid depression. The different developmental trajectory in thalamus and fusiform indicates that the comorbidity may arise through a specific mechanism rather than simple superposition of migraine and depression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Preclinical in vitro models play an important role in studying cancer cell biology and facilitating translational research, especially in the identification of drug targets and drug discovery studies. This is particularly relevant in breast cancer, where the global burden of disease is quite high based on prevalence and a relatively high rate of lethality. Predictive tools to select patients who will be responsive to invasive or morbid therapies (radiotherapy, chemotherapy, immunotherapy, and/or surgery) are relatively lacking. To be clinically relevant, a model must accurately replicate the biology and cellular heterogeneity of the primary tumor. Addressing these requirements and overcoming the limitations of most existing cancer cell lines, which are typically derived from a single clone, we have recently developed conditional reprogramming (CR) technology. The CR technology refers to a co-culture system of primary human normal or tumor cells with irradiated murine fibroblasts in the presence of a Rho-associated kinase inhibitor to allow the primary cells to acquire stem cell properties and the ability to proliferate indefinitely in vitro without any exogenous gene or viral transfection. This innovative approach fulfills many of these needs and offers an alternative that surpasses the deficiencies associated with traditional cancer cell lines. These CR cells (CRCs) can be reprogrammed to maintain a highly proliferative state and reproduce the genomic and histological characteristics of the parental tissue. Therefore, CR technology may be a clinically relevant model to test and predict drug sensitivity, conduct gene profile analysis and xenograft research, and undertake personalized medicine. This review discusses studies that have applied CR technology to conduct breast cancer research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The liquid‐air interface offers a platform for the in‐plane growth of free‐standing materials. However, it is rarely used for inorganic perovskites and ultrathin non‐layered perovskites. Herein the liquid‐air interfacial synthesis of inorganic perovskite nanosheets (Cs3Bi2I9, Cs3Sb2I9) is achieved simply by drop‐casting the precursor solution with only the addition of iodine. The products are inaccessible without iodine addition. The thickness and lateral size of these nanosheets can be adjusted through the iodine concentration. The high volatility of the iodine spontaneously drives precursors that normally stay in the liquid to the liquid‐air interface. The iodine also repairs in situ iodine vacancies during perovskite growth, giving enhanced optical and optoelectronic properties. The liquid‐air interfacial growth of ultrathin perovskites provides multi‐degree‐of‐freedom for constructing perovskite‐based heterostructures and devices at atomic scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The liquid‐air interface offers a platform for the in‐plane growth of free‐standing materials. However, it is rarely used for inorganic perovskites and ultrathin non‐layered perovskites. Herein the liquid‐air interfacial synthesis of inorganic perovskite nanosheets (Cs3Bi2I9, Cs3Sb2I9) is achieved simply by drop‐casting the precursor solution with only the addition of iodine. The products are inaccessible without iodine addition. The thickness and lateral size of these nanosheets can be adjusted through the iodine concentration. The high volatility of the iodine spontaneously drives precursors that normally stay in the liquid to the liquid‐air interface. The iodine also repairs in situ iodine vacancies during perovskite growth, giving enhanced optical and optoelectronic properties. The liquid‐air interfacial growth of ultrathin perovskites provides multi‐degree‐of‐freedom for constructing perovskite‐based heterostructures and devices at atomic scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The cell cycle checkpoint proteins ataxia-telangiectasia-mutated-and-Rad3-related kinase (ATR) and its major downstream effector checkpoint kinase 1 (CHK1) prevent the entry of cells with damaged or incompletely replicated DNA into mitosis when the cells are challenged by DNA damaging agents, such as radiation therapy (RT) or chemotherapeutic drugs, that are the major modalities to treat cancer. This regulation is particularly evident in cells with a defective G1 checkpoint, a common feature of cancer cells, due to p53 mutations. In addition, ATR and/or CHK1 suppress replication stress (RS) by inhibiting excess origin firing, particularly in cells with activated oncogenes. Those functions of ATR/CHK1 make them ideal therapeutic targets. ATR/CHK1 inhibitors have been developed and are currently used either as single agents or paired with radiotherapy or a variety of genotoxic chemotherapies in preclinical and clinical studies. Here, we review the status of the development of ATR and CHK1 inhibitors. We also discuss the potential mechanisms by which ATR and CHK1 inhibition induces cell killing in the presence or absence of exogenous DNA damaging agents, such as RT and chemotherapeutic agents. Lastly, we discuss synthetic lethality interactions between the inhibition of ATR/CHK1 and defects in other DNA damage response (DDR) pathways/genes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, synchrotron radiation X-ray diffraction is used to study the equation of state of vanadium nitride in a diamond anvil cell at room temperature. Experimental results reveal the high stability of the cubic structure up to 76 GPa pressure. In addition, the bulk modulus of vanadium nitride derived from XRD data is K0 = 328.4(2.8) GPa with K0′ = 5.86(0.14). Finally, the high pressure compression behavior is investigated to 80 GPa using density functional theory of first-principle calculations, and the obtained bulk elastic modulus is 316 GPa. Vanadium nitride is not magnetic in the whole pressure range and is metallic. Highlights • We have investigated the equation of state of VN under high pressure with silicone oil as the pressure transmitting medium to 76 GPa. • It was found that the face-centred cubic structure of VN maintains the maximum pressure of 76 GPa. • We have carried out first-principles calculations and obtained the equation of state, band structure, and electronic density of state of VN to 80 GPa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Primary objective: To investigate the epidemiological characteristics of paediatric inpatients with traumatic brain injury (TBI) in China.Research design: The Chinese Trauma Database (CTD), a nationwide register system based on hospital admission data, contains diagnosis and treatment information for trauma inpatients in over 200 military-managed public-service hospitals in China. Using the ICD-9 coding, the data for children with TBI aged 0–17 years between 2001 and 2007 were retrieved.Methods and procedures: The demographic characteristics, admission time, injury cause, severity and treatment outcomes of paediatric inpatients with TBI were analysed.Main outcomes and results: A total of 26,028 paediatric inpatients with TBI (69.52% male, 30.48% female) were included in the CTD. Motor vehicle traffic (MVT) accidents, falls and assaults were the primary causes of injury. Falls were the leading cause of TBI in children aged 0–4 years, and MVT was the leading cause of TBI in children aged 5–17 years. According to the abbreviated injury scale, 37.20% of the TBI cases were mild, 25.15% were moderate, 24.81% were severe and 12.84% were critically severe.Conclusion: Chinese authorities should develop targeted measures to reduce children injuries based on the leading causes of TBI in the different age groups, particularly MVT, falls and assaults. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Cement and other traditional materials are frequently used to improve the properties of soil in the Yellow River Basin, the ecological environment has become severely polluted. To promote the environmental protection strategy of sustainable development, environmentally friendly biopolymers were used to treat typical silt samples collected from the Yellow River Basin. The water retention characteristics and vegetation growth of the treated silt were evaluated, and the microscopic mechanism of the water retention characteristics was investigated. The results show that the water retention capacity of the treated silt increased upon increasing the ratio of xanthan gum, gellan gum, and guar gum, with gellan gum performing better than the other two gums. The biopolymers had no discernible effect on the vegetation germination, but effectively promoted vegetation growth with a significantly lower wilting rate than that of the untreated soil. The soil treated with xanthan gum had the highest germination rate and vegetation growth height, while soil treated with gellan gum had the lowest wilting rate. The superior performance of gellan gum and xanthan gum can be attributed to their hydrophilicity and adhesion. These gums directly interact with the surface of charged clay particles in the soil pore space to closely connect the particles, reduce water loss, and increase the water retention capacity. The better soil water retention capacity is associated with improved germination and vegetation growth. • Water retention characteristics of biomolymer-treated soil in wide suction range. • Different biopolymers' effects on vegetation growth in treated soil. • The water retention capacity of treated silt increases as the ratio increases. • The water retention capacity of gellan gum was better than xanthan gum and guar gum. • The rate of wilting in treated soil was significantly lower than in untreated soil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is by nature a multi-modality technique that provides complementary information about different aspects of diseases. So far no attempts have been reported to assess the potential of multi-modal MRI in discriminating individuals with and without migraine, so in this study, we proposed a classification approach to examine whether or not the integration of multiple MRI features could improve the classification performance between migraine patients without aura (MWoA) and healthy controls. Twenty-one MWoA patients and 28 healthy controls participated in this study. Resting-state functional MRI data was acquired to derive three functional measures: the amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations, regional homogeneity and regional functional correlation strength; and structural MRI data was obtained to measure the regional gray matter volume. For each measure, the values of 116 pre-defined regions of interest were extracted as classification features. Features were first selected and combined by a multi-kernel strategy; then a support vector machine classifier was trained to distinguish the subjects at individual level. The performance of the classifier was evaluated using a leave-one-out cross-validation method, and the final classification accuracy obtained was 83.67% (with a sensitivity of 92.86% and a specificity of 71.43%). The anterior cingulate cortex, prefrontal cortex, orbitofrontal cortex and the insula contributed the most discriminative features. In general, our proposed framework shows a promising classification capability for MWoA by integrating information from multiple MRI features. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neural imaging studies have found the connection between strabismus and brain cortex. However, the pathological mechanisms of intermittent exotropia are still not fully understood. In the present study, changes of binocular fusion related cortices in intermittent exotropia were investigated with blood oxygen level dependent functional magnetic resonance imaging. Activated cortices induced by fusion stimulus were found to be distributed in several regions such as bilateral middle occipital gyrus, bilateral middle temporal gyrus, left superior parietal lobule and so on. Compared with normal subjects, the increased activation intensity was observed in bilateral superior parietal lobule and inferior parietal lobule in subjects with intermittent exotropia. These findings indicate that binocular fusion involves a complicated brain network including several regions. And cortical activities of bilateral superior parietal lobule and inferior parietal lobule compensate for the binocular fusion dysfunction in intermittent exotropia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The lateral loading of a plate anchor is a complicated process that involves complex anchor-soil interactions. The deformation characteristics of the soil around an anchor have an important effect on its lateral bearing capacity. In this paper, the noncontact digital image correlation (DIC) technique is used to study the distribution and variation of the soil deformation field under a laterally loaded anchor in sandy soil. The results show that the sand density and embedment ratio significantly affect the distribution and influence range of the active and passive zones around the anchor. The active zone behind the rod gradually decreases with increasing sand density until ultimately disappearing, and the passive zone increases. The maximum influence height occurs in the passive zone behind the rod in dense sand, and the influence range of the passive zone in front of the rod expands with an increasing embedment ratio. Shear bands form during the lateral loading process, which are accompanied by dilatancy in the shear process. The motion path of the rotation center in loose and medium sand is initially rigid translational and then becomes rigid rotational, while the opposite trend occurs in compact dense sand. The results provide important guidance for the development of predictive models for anchor lateral loading and design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Estrogen receptors α (ERα) and β (ERβ) show distinct contributions to tumor initiation and progression. Given that ERβ mainly functions as a "tumor suppressor", activation of ERβ using its specific agonist should be able to inhibit tumor progression. In this study, we show that a newly developed ERβ agonist, OSU-ERb-12, can not only impede ovarian cancer cell expansion and tumor growth but also reduce the cancer stem cell (CSC) population. OSU-ERb-12 could inhibit epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in ovarian cancer cells by increasing Snail expression, thereby, blocking EMT-mediated cancer cell dedifferentiation. We also found that OSU-ERb-12 inhibits ovarian cancer expansion in an ERα-independent manner while limiting the CSC population in an ERα-dependent manner. Taken together, our data suggest that the newly developed ERβ agonist OSU-ERb-12 can be used not only to hinder tumor growth but also has the potential to prevent tumor relapse and metastasis by depleting CSCs. Epithelial ovarian cancer is the most lethal malignancy of the female reproductive tract. A healthy ovary expresses both Estrogen Receptor α (ERα) and β (ERβ). Given that ERα is generally considered to promote cell survival and proliferation, thereby, enhancing tumor growth, while ERβ shows a protective effect against the development and progression of tumors, the activation of ERβ by its agonists could be therapeutically beneficial for ovarian cancer. Here, we demonstrate that the activation of ERβ using a newly developed ERβ agonist, OSU-ERb-12, can impede ovarian cancer cell expansion and tumor growth in an ERα-independent manner. More interestingly, we found that OSU-ERb-12 also reduces the cancer stem cell (CSC) population in ovarian cancer by compromising non-CSC-to-CSC conversion. Mechanistically, we revealed that OSU-ERb-12 decreased the expression of Snail, a master regulator of the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT), which is associated with de novo CSC generation. Given that ERα can mediate EMT and facilitate maintenance of the CSC subpopulation and that OSU-ERb-12 can block the transactivity of ERα, we conclude that OSU-ERb-12 reduces the CSC subpopulation by inhibiting EMT in an ERα-dependent manner. Taken together, our data indicate that the ERβ agonist OSU-ERb-12 could be used to hinder tumor progression and limit the CSC subpopulation with the potential to prevent tumor relapse and metastasis in patients with ovarian cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Cell cycle checkpoints and DNA repair are important for cell survival after exogenous DNA damage. Both rapid blockage of G2 to M phase transition in the cell cycle and the maintenance of relatively slow G2 arrest are critical to protect cells from lethal ionizing radiation (IR). Checkpoint kinase 1 is pivotal in blocking the transition from G2 to M phases in response to IR. The 14-3-3σ protein is important for IR-induced G2 arrest maintenance in which p53-dependent 14-3-3σ transcription is involved. It has been demonstrated that Ring finger protein 126 (RNF126), an E3 ligase, is required to upregulate checkpoint kinase 1 expression. Thus, our goal was to study the role of RNF126 in the G2/M phase checkpoint.Methods and Materials: The transition from G2 to M phases and G2 accumulation in response to IR were determined by flow cytometry through staining with phospho-histone H3 (pS10) antibody and propidium iodide, respectively. The interaction of RNF126 and 14-3-3σ was determined by GST-pulldown and coimmunoprecipitation assays. The stability of RNF126 and 14-3-3σ was determined by cycloheximide-based stability assay and ubiquitination detection by coimmunoprecipitation. The sequestering of cyclin-dependent kinase 1 and cyclin B1 from the nucleus was determined by immunofluorescence staining.Results: RNF126 knockdown had no impact on the IR-induced transient blockage of G2 to M but impaired IR-induced G2 arrest maintenance in cells with or without wild-type p53. Mechanistically, RNF126 binds 14-3-3σ and prevents both proteins from ubiquitination-mediated degradation. Last, RNF126 is required for enforcing the cytoplasmic sequestration of cyclin B1 and cyclin-dependent kinase 1 proteins in response to IR.Conclusions: RNF126 promotes G2 arrest via interaction with 14-3-3σ in response to IR. Our study revealed a novel role for RNF126 in promoting G2 arrest, providing a new target for cancer treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Gaomiaozi (GMZ) bentonite produced in Inner Mongolia has been chosen as a matrix material of buffer/backfill materials in the deep geological disposal to isolate the high level radioactive waste in China. Swelling characteristics of GMZ bentonite and bentonite–sand mixtures inundated with distilled water were studied by experimental methods. The test result shows that the relation between the void ratio and the swelling pressure of compacted GMZ bentonite–sand mixtures at full saturation is independent of the initial conditions such as the initial dry density and initial water content, and dependent on bentonite/sand ratio. An empirical equation is proposed to predict the swelling deformation and swelling pressure of the mixtures with different densities and bentonite/sand ratios. Finally, the swelling capacities of GMZ, Kunigel-V1 and MX-80 bentonites are compared. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Due to the high incidence of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) worldwide as well as its rapid and fatal progression, timely microscopy screening of peripheral blood smears is essential for the rapid diagnosis of ALL. However, screening manually is time-consuming and tedious and may lead to missed or misdiagnosis due to subjective bias; on the other hand, artificially intelligent diagnostic algorithms are constrained by the limited sample size of the data and are prone to overfitting, resulting in limited applications. Conventional data augmentation is commonly adopted to expand the amount of training data, avoid overfitting, and improve the performance of deep models. However, in practical applications, random data augmentation, such as random image cropping or erasing, is difficult to realistically occur in specific tasks and may instead introduce tremendous background noises that modify actual distribution of data, thereby degrading model performance. In this paper, to assist in the early and accurate diagnosis of acute lymphoblastic leukemia, we present a ternary stream-driven weakly supervised data augmentation classification network (WT-DFN) to identify lymphoblasts in a fine-grained scale using microscopic images of peripheral blood smears. Concretely, for each training image, we first generate attention maps to represent the distinguishable part of the target by weakly supervised learning. Then, guided by these attention maps, we produce the other two streams via attention cropping and attention erasing to obtain the fine-grained distinctive features. The proposed WT-DFN improves the classification accuracy of the model from two aspects: (1) in the images can be seen details since cropping attention regions provide the accurate location of the object, which ensures our model looks at the object closer and discovers certain detailed features; (2) images can be seen more since erasing attention mechanism forces the model to extract more discriminative parts' features. Validation suggests that the proposed method is capable of addressing the high intraclass variances located in lymphocyte classes, as well as the low interclass variances between lymphoblasts and other normal or reactive lymphocytes. The proposed method yields the best performance on the public dataset and the real clinical dataset among competitive methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The equation of state (EOS) of HfC and nanosized TiC at high pressure has been studied by means of synchrotron radiation X-ray diffraction (XRD) in a diamond anvil cell (DAC) at ambient temperature, and density functional theory (DFT) calculations. XRD analysis showed that the cubic structure of HfC and nanosized TiC maintained to the maximum pressures. The XRD data yield a bulk modulus K 0 = 2 8 6. 2 (4. 8) GPa with K 0 ′ = 3. 6 5 (0. 3 1) of HfC. In addition, the bulk modulus of nanosized TiC derived from XRD data is K 0 = 2 8 2. 9 (2. 1) GPa with K 0 ′ = 3. 9 5 (0. 1 4). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. As a chronic progressive disease, diabetes mellitus (DM) has a high incidence worldwide, and it impacts on cognitive and learning abilities in the lifetime even in the early stage, may degenerate memory in middle age, and perhaps increases the risk of Alzheimer's disease. Method. In this work, we propose a convolutional neural network (CNN) based classification method to help classify diabetes by distinguishing the brains with abnormal functions from the normal ones on resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI). The proposed classification model is based on the Inception-v4-Residual convolutional neural network architecture. In our workflow, the original rs-fMRI data are first mapped to generate amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) images and then fed into the CNN model to get the classification result to indicate the potential existence of DM. Result. We validate our method on a realistic clinical rs-fMRI dataset, and the achieved average accuracy is 89.95 % in fivefold cross-validation. Our model achieves a 0.8690 AUC with 77.50% and 77.51% sensitivity and specificity using our local dataset, respectively. Conclusion. It has the potential to become a novel clinical preliminary screening tool that provides help for the classification of different categories based on functional brain alteration caused by diabetes, benefiting from its accuracy and robustness, as well as efficiency and patient friendliness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate the magnetic damping parameter of Fe1 – xCrx thin films using the time-resolved magneto-optical Kerr effect technique. It is demonstrated that the overall effective damping parameter is enhanced with the increasing Cr concentration. The effective damping at high field α0 is found to be significantly enhanced when increasing the Cr concentration with the α0 = 0.159 in the Fe45Cr55 enhanced by 562% compared with that of α0 = 0.024 in the pure Fe film. This study provides a new approach of controlling the effective damping parameter with a desired magnitude via varying Cr composition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the discoveries of polymeric nitrogen, named cg-N (2004), LP-N (2014), HLP-N (2019), another polymorph named black phosphorus nitrogen (BP-N) was synthesized at high-pressure-high-temperature conditions. The narrow existing pressure region and similar synthesized pressure of BP-N compared with cg-N indicate that the stable energy and enthalpy of formation of these two structures are close to each other, which was confirmed by our theoretical calculation. In order to obtain the pressure region of BP-N phase, pure N2 and TiN/Pb + N2 precursors were used for laser-heating high pressure experiments in diamond anvil cell (DAC), and the phase identity was examined by Raman and XRD mapping. BP-N can be synthesized in the pressure range of 130 GPa to 140 GPa with the assistance of heating absorber. With the decrease of the pressure, BP-N can be quenched to ∼ 40 GPa. The synthesizing pressure–temperature and the stable pressure region of BP-N are important for further exploration of BP-N and its kinetic and thermal dynamic relationship with other polymeric nitrogen, especially cg-N. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Here, the spin-torque ferromagnetic resonance signal and the spin Hall magnetoresistance induced by the spin Hall effect of W/Cu/CoFeB heterostructures with different Cu layer thicknesses ( t Cu ) have been systemically studied. The effective spin mixing conductance g eff ↑ ↓ , the interfacial spin transparency T, and the real spin–orbit torque efficiency ( J s J c ) real show a significant increase compared to the W/CoFeB heterostructure. ( J s J c ) real reaches its maximum of ∼0.54, increased up to ∼50% at the optimized t Cu ∼ 0.52 nm according to our theoretical prediction. More importantly, the intrinsic spin Hall angle of W, θ SH int ∼ 0.79 ± 0.20, has also been obtained after the correction of the inverse spin Hall effect and T. This suggests that the Cu insertion improves the interface quality and, therefore, assists the spin transport in the heterostructures, which potentially improves the performance of next-generation spintronic devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate the manifestations of band structure engineering in few-layer PbI2-based heterostructures by probing their tunable optical properties. First, we have successfully prepared atomically thin flakes from PbI2 solution by two distinct approaches. A drop-casting of PbI2 solution onto various substrates followed by a simple heating process yields abundant flakes with different thickness and regular shape. Mechanical exfoliation of PbI2 bulk crystals, obtained from a low-temperature recrystallization process of PbI2 solution, also gives ultrathin PbI2 flakes of high quality. Moreover, these PbI2 flakes are employed to construct various van de Waals heterostructures. A significant enhancement of photoluminescence in MoSe2 interfaced with PbI2 was observed at different laser excitation intensity, due to the forming of type-I band alignment. Type-I band alignment can also be investigated in MoS2/PbI2 heterostructure, while type-II band alignment is built-in WSe2/PbI2 heterostructure. These results demonstrate that the strong interfacial coupling between PbI2 and other two-dimensional semiconductors can modulate their band alignment, and as a result, the exciton properties noticeably, which provides new insights of building a designer heterostructure device at the atomic level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gilbert damping is of crucial importance for spintronic devices due to its practical effect on the response time and energy consumption. Lower damping would enable more energy-efficient excitations and, thus, less current is needed. The Gilbert damping constant of the Co2FeAl film, a half-metal material important for spintronics with its 100% spin polarization at the Fermi level, has shown an abnormal increase at the thin film limit due to the inter-diffusion of Al atoms. Here, we report that the Gilbert damping of ultra-thin Co2 FeAl 1 + x films of nanometer thicknesses can be effectively tuned by delicately controlling the stoichiometric ratio during the growth. Gilbert damping has been found to be the lowest of 0.065 in Co2 FeAl 1 + 0.1 , which is deduced by ∼ 50 % compared to that in Co2FeAl. We have further found that the damping constant of the ultra-thin Co2 FeAl 1 + 0.1 film is restored to the value of 0.062 of the nominal stoichiometric Co2FeAl by compensating the Al composition deficiency, as supported by 10.37% of composition change from scanning transmission electron microscopy with energy-dispersive-spectroscopy. This work offers a unique path to manipulate the Gilbert damping constant in ultra-thin Co2FeAl films by Al concentration control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]