bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Evaluation of the Diagnostic Performance of the BioFire FilmArray Meningitis/Encephalitis Panel in Children: A Retrospective Multicenter Study
Authors: Bal Alkan , Saz Eylem Ulas , Arslan Sema Yildirim , Atik Sinem , Bayturan Semra , Yurtseven Ali , Gazi Hörü , Cicek Candan , Kurugol Zafer , Bal Zumrut Sahbudak
Published: September 2022

Objective Acute bacterial meningitis (ABM) declined after implementing conjugate Haemophilus influenzae type B and the pneumococcal vaccines worldwide. However, it still contributes to significant morbidity and mortality. The Biofire FilmArray Meningitis Encephalitis (FAME) panel can rapidly diagnose common bacterial and viral pathogens. Several studies suggested that the use of FAME may accelerate diagnosis and decrease the time to pathogen-specific therapy. However, the clinical utility is still controversial due to scarce data and relatively high costs. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate the diagnostic performance of FAME in children.

Methods A retrospective multicenter cross-sectional study was conducted to evaluate FAME in diagnosing ABM in children with a suspected central nervous system infection between January 2017 and May 2021.

Results This study consisted of 179 children diagnosed with central nervous system infection who had parallel testing done using FAME and traditional microbiological diagnostic methods. Twenty-two FAME results were positive; 8 (36.3%) were bacterial pathogens and 14 (53.7%) were viral pathogens. The most common viral pathogen was human herpesvirus 6 (n  = 6; 27.2%), followed by herpes simplex virus 1 (n = 4; 18.1%), Enterovirus spp. (n = 2; 9%), Parechovirus (n = 2; 9%), and Cytomegalovirus (n = 1; 4.5%). Bacterial pathogens included S. pneumoniae (n = 3; 13.6%), H. influenzae (n = 3; 13.6%), Neisseria meningitidis (n = 1; 4.5%), and Streptococcus agalactiae (n = 1; 4.5%). Bacterial culture confirmed S. pneumoniae infection in only 1 of 8 (12.5%) patients, while 7 of 8 bacterial meningitis were only detected by FAME.

Conclusion FAME may also help with diagnosis and pathogen identification in patients who have already had antibiotics before cerebrospinal fluid collection. The use of FAME to detect infections quickly may minimize the improper use of medications, treatment duration, and the cost of hospitalization.
Effects of self-irradiation on deuterium retention and reflectivity of molybdenum, fusion plasma-facing material: Combined experimental and modeling study
Authors: Lavrentiev M. Yu. , Hollingsworth A. , Hess J. , Davies S. , Wohlers A. , Thomas B. , Salter H. , Baron-Wiechec A. , Jepu I. , Zayachuk Y. , Peng N.
Published: September 2022

Molybdenum is used as plasma-facing material in tokamaks and as material for plasma optical diagnostics mirrors. Harsh conditions of neutron irradiation, exposure to hydrogen isotopes and helium ions, and high operating temperatures result in degradation of the molybdenum surface and ultimately limit their lifetime in a fusion power plant. In the current paper, intake and subsequent thermal release of deuterium from self-irradiated by high energy (1 MeV) ions molybdenum as a function of irradiation dose are investigated. Several characteristic temperature regions where deuterium release takes place are identified and attributed to trapping of deuterium in intrinsic and radiation-induced microstructure defects. This attribution is further validated by molecular dynamics modeling, which confirms that increase and saturation of vacancy concentration found in simulations follows increase and saturation of experimentally determined deuterium content. Deuterium inventory and vacancy content saturate at a damage level of around 0.2 dpa (displacement per atom), similar to recent modeling and experimental studies of iron and tungsten. Reflectivity measurements of irradiated molybdenum show that it is only slightly affected by damage up to 1 dpa.
Predictive capability of material screening by fast neutron activation analysis using laser-driven neutron sources
Authors: Abe Y. , Nakao A. , Arikawa Y. , Morace A. , Mori T. , Lan Z. , Wei T. , Asano S. , Minami T. , Kuramitsu Y. , Habara H. , Shiraga H. , Fujioka S. , Nakai M. , Yogo A.
Published: September 2022

Bright, short-pulsed neutron beams from laser-driven neutron sources (LANSs) provide a new perspective on material screening via fast neutron activation analysis (FNAA). FNAA is a nondestructive technique for determining material elemental composition based on nuclear excitation by fast neutron bombardment and subsequent spectral analysis of prompt γ-rays emitted by the active nuclei. Our recent experiments and simulations have shown that activation analysis can be used in practice with modest neutron fluences on the order of 105 n/cm2, which is available with current laser technology. In addition, time-resolved γ-ray measurements combined with picosecond neutron probes from LANSs are effective in mitigating the issue of spectral interference between elements, enabling highly accurate screening of complex samples containing many elements. This paper describes the predictive capability of LANS-based activation analysis based on experimental demonstrations and spectral calculations with Monte Carlo simulations.
Unexpected role of hole and electron blocking interlayers controlling charge carrier injection and transport in TADF based blue organic light-emitting diodes
Authors: Mamada Masashi , Adachi Chihaya
Published: September 2022

There has been increasing interest in blue organic light-emitting diodes based on thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF). The construction of a fully optimized device architecture is crucial in accordance with developing high-performance materials because highly efficient electroluminescence cannot be realized without balancing both carrier injection and transport with decreasing several exciton loss processes. Thus, the detailed mechanism of carrier injection, transport, and recombination in emitting layers has to be clarified. In this study, various device architectures for a recently emerged blue TADF molecular system based on multiple donors and acceptors were systematically investigated, especially by focusing on the interlayers. This work also aims to offer guidelines for improving device stabilities. Our findings clarify the role of each layer, providing in-depth insight into device design and the selection of proper materials for each constituted layer.
A new neutron time-of-flight detector for yield and ion-temperature measurements at the OMEGA Laser Facility
Authors: Glebov V. Yu. , Forrest C. J. , Kendrick J. , Knauer J. P. , Mannion O. M. , McClow H. , Regan S. P. , Stoeckl C. , Stanley B. , Theobald W.
Published: September 2022

A new neutron time-of-flight (nTOF) detector for deuterium–deuterium (DD)-fusion yield and ion-temperature measurements was designed, installed, and calibrated for the OMEGA Laser Facility. This detector provides an additional line of sight for DD neutron yield and ion-temperature measurements for yields exceeding 1 × 1010 with higher precision than existing detectors. The nTOF detector consists of a 90-mm-diam, 20-mm-thick BC-422 scintillator and a gated Photek photomultiplier tube (PMT240). The PMT collects scintillating light through the 20-mm side of the scintillator without the use of a light guide. There is no lead shielding from hard x rays in order to allow the x-ray instrument response function of the detector to be measured easily. Instead, hard x-ray signals generated in implosion experiments are gated out by the PMT. The design provides a place for glass neutral-density filters between the scintillator and the PMT to avoid PMT saturation at high yields. The nTOF detector is installed in the OMEGA Target Bay along the P8A sub-port line of sight at a distance of 5.3 m from the target chamber center. In addition to DD measurements, the same detector can be used to measure the neutron yield and ion temperature from deuterium–tritium (DT) implosion targets in the 5 × 1010 to 2 × 1012 yield range. The design details and the calibration results of this nTOF detector for both D2 and DT implosions on OMEGA will be presented.
Diagnosis of the imploding shell asymmetry in polar-direct-drive deuterium–tritium cryogenic target implosions on OMEGA
Authors: Joshi T. R. , Shah R. C. , Theobald W. , Churnetski K. , Radha P. B. , Cao D. , Thomas C. A. , Baltazar J. , Regan S. P.
Published: September 2022

We discuss the analyses of gated, x-ray imaging data from polar-direct-drive experiments with cryogenically layered deuterium–tritium targets on the OMEGA laser. The in-flight shell asymmetries were diagnosed at various times during the implosion, which was caused by the beam pointing geometry and preimposed variations in the energy partition between the different groups of laser beams. The shape of the ablation surface during the acceleration phase of the implosion was measured along two different lines of sight, and a Legendre mode (ℓ-mode) decomposition was applied for modes of up to ten to investigate shell asymmetries. A clear causal relationship between the imposed beam imbalance and the shape of the in-flight shell asymmetries was observed. The imploded shell with a balanced energy ratio shows smaller values of the amplitudes of ℓ-mode 2 compared to that from implosions with an imbalanced ring energy ratio. The amplitudes of ℓ-modes 4 and 6 are the same within the measurement uncertainty with respect to the change in beam energy ratio.
Theoretical investigation on yttrium clustering in tungsten grain boundary region and strengthening effect
Authors: Wu Mingyu , Zhang Yujuan , Wang Zhihang , Qiu Kaikai , Shi Yaxian , Ge Changchun
Published: September 2022

We have systematically investigated the solution and aggregation behaviors of yttrium (Y) on symmetrically inclined tungsten (W) grain boundary (GB) Σ5(310)/[001] by first-principles simulation. It is found that the most stable site for Y is located on the GB plane, and the solution energy of the Y substitutional site increases with increasing the distance from the GB plane. The charge redistribution of Y atoms is positively correlated with the solution energy, i.e., the deviation of the electrons of Y atoms is beneficial to its solution in the W–GB system. Further, the segregation of multiple Y atoms in the W–GB is clearly observed, where the Y atoms preferentially occupy the GB plane substitutional sites. The alloying Y atoms at the GB plane sites can effectively strengthen the GB when the concentration is less than 3.367%. The stronger binding energy of W–Y than the binding energy of W–W in the GB region is the main factor for the strengthening of the GB.
Intrinsic spin Hall effect in oxidized platinum/magnetic oxide heterostructure
Authors: Li Tianhui , Jia Wei , Gao Tenghua , Haku Satoshi , Ye Zhixiang , Qiu Mingxia , An Hongyu
Published: September 2022

Oxidizing the heavy metal (HM) has been reported to be a simple and efficient method to enhance the generation efficiency of the spin–orbit torques (SOTs) in the HM/ferromagnet (FM) heterostructure, which has attracted intensive studies. However, by now all the previous studies were performed using an oxidized HM/metallic magnet heterostructure. The SOT in the oxidized HM/magnetic oxide heterostructure still remains elusive, which has not been reported yet. In this work, we report the study of the SOT generation and spin Hall effect in the oxidized platinum/magnetic oxide heterostructure. By changing the oxidation level of Pt(O) in the Pt(O)/Tm3Fe5O12 (TmIG) bilayer, we demonstrate that the SOT efficiency drastically decreases with the increase in the oxidation level, which is completely opposite to that in the Pt(O)/metallic magnet. This result indicates that the interfacial oxidation of the FM layer in the generally studied oxidized HM/metallic magnet bilayer significantly contributes to the interfacial Rashba effect, which drastically enhances the SOT efficiency. We further demonstrate that the spin Hall conductivity of Pt is very sensitive to the electric conductivity, which drastically increases with the electric conductivity. This drastic increase is attributed to the intrinsic contribution of Pt in the dirty-metal regime, which is dominated by the carrier lifetime. Our study provides a piece of information for the basic understanding of the SOT and spin Hall effect in the oxidized HM/magnetic oxide heterostructure.
The four-component DFT method for the calculation of the EPR g-tensor using a restricted magnetically balanced basis and London atomic orbitals
Authors: Misenkova Debora , Lemken Florian , Repisky Michal , Noga Jozef , Malkina Olga L. , Komorovsky Stanislav
Published: September 2022

Four-component relativistic treatments of the electron paramagnetic resonance g-tensor have so far been based on a common gauge origin and a restricted kinetically balanced basis. The results of such calculations are prone to exhibit a dependence on the choice of the gauge origin for the vector potential associated with uniform magnetic field and a related dependence on the basis set quality. In this work, this gauge problem is addressed by a distributed-origin scheme based on the London atomic orbitals, also called gauge-including atomic orbitals (GIAOs), which have proven to be a practical approach for calculations of other magnetic properties. Furthermore, in the four-component relativistic domain, it has previously been shown that a restricted magnetically balanced (RMB) basis for the small component of the four-component wavefunctions is necessary for achieving robust convergence with regard to the basis set size. We present the implementation of a four-component density functional theory (DFT) method for calculating the g-tensor, incorporating both the GIAOs and RMB basis and based on the Dirac–Coulomb Hamiltonian. The approach utilizes the state-of-the-art noncollinear Kramers-unrestricted DFT methodology to achieve rotationally invariant results and inclusion of spin-polarization effects in the calculation. We also show that the gauge dependence of the results obtained is connected to the nonvanishing integral of the current density in a finite basis, explain why the results of cluster calculations exhibit surprisingly low gauge dependence, and demonstrate that the gauge problem disappears for systems with certain point-group symmetries.
Gas spreading detection by means of a terahertz leaky-wave antenna
Authors: Zhang D. , Comite D. , Deng X. , Zheng X. , Baccarelli P. , Burghignoli P.
Published: September 2022

A spectroscopy system for gas detection based on a terahertz (THz) parallel-plate waveguide leaky-wave antenna is presented. Compared to conventional THz spectroscopy systems, we exploit the intrinsic dispersive behavior of a leaky-wave antenna to detect multiple spectral absorption peaks of the considered target. The proposed THz antenna is tested and validated by means of full-wave simulations and experimental measurements on a manufactured prototype. A gas detection experiment considering acetonitrile (i.e., CH3CN) has been carried out to characterize the performance of the spectroscopy system. The directional patterns of the leaky-wave antenna are demonstrated to map the absorption characteristic peaks of the CH3CN, thus enabling an extension of the detection range. Thanks to the intrinsic frequency-scanning behavior of the antenna, each absorption peak can be associated with an angle, enabling, therefore, spatial discrimination to monitor gas spreading.
The theory for a 2D electron diffractometer using graphene
Authors: Dartora C. A. , Zanella Fernando , Cabrera G. G.
Published: September 2022

Electrons near the Fermi level behaving as massless Dirac fermions in graphene in (1+2)-D relativistic spacetime have been confirmed by an experiment. Using this aspect, a myriad of novel and interesting devices can be sought. In this paper, we laid out the theory for using a monolayer graphene sheet as an electron diffractometer, aiming at the determination of surface properties in materials. The key ingredient is the Mott scattering of electrons by screened Coulomb scatterers in (1+2)-D spacetime. The specific array of scatterers provided by a given surface placed in contact with a graphene sheet will induce an angular distribution for the electron scattering events, which can be properly measured through the electric current flowing to external electrodes. It can provide an in situ technique for characterizing quantum dot superlattices with a resolution of a few nanometers.
Impact of 100 MeV high-energy proton irradiation on β-Ga2O3 solar-blind photodetector: Oxygen vacancies formation and resistance switching effect
Authors: Chang M. M. , Guo D. Y. , Zhong X. L. , Zhang F. B. , Wang J. B.
Published: September 2022

β-Ga2O3 based solar-blind photodetectors have strong radiation hardness and great potential applications in Earth's space environment due to the large bandgap and high bond energy. In this work, we investigated the photoelectric properties influence of β-Ga2O3 photodetector irradiated by 100 MeV high-energy protons which are the primary components in the inner belt of the Van Allen radiation belts where solar-blind photodetectors mainly worked. After proton irradiation, due to the formation of more oxygen vacancies and their migration driven by bias at the metal/semiconductor interface, transportation of carriers transforms with electron tunneling conduction for low-resistance state and thermionic emission for high resistance state. As a result, the current–voltage curves of β-Ga2O3 solar-blind photodetectors exhibit apparent hysteresis loops. The photoresponsivity of β-Ga2O3 photodetectors slightly increases from 1.2 × 103 to 1.4 × 103 A/W after irradiation, and the photoresponse speed becomes faster at a negative voltage while slower at positive voltage. The results reveal the effects of high-energy proton irradiation on β-Ga2O3 solar-blind photodetectors and provide a basis for the study of their use in a radiation harsh environment.
Computational fluid dynamics and machine learning algorithms analysis of striking particle velocity magnitude, particle diameter, and impact time inside an acinar region of the human lung
Authors: Francis Isabella , Saha Suvash C.
Published: September 2022

Complementing computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations with machine learning algorithms is becoming increasingly popular as the combination reduces the computational time of the CFD simulations required for classifying, predicting, or optimizing the impact of geometrical and physical variables of a specific study. The main target of drug delivery studies is indicating the optimum particle diameter for targeting particular locations in the lung to achieve a desired therapeutic effect. In addition, the main goal of molecular dynamics studies is to investigate particle–lung interaction through given particle properties. Therefore, this study combines the two by numerically determining the optimum particle diameter required to obtain an ideal striking velocity magnitude (velocity at the time of striking the alveoli, i.e., deposition by sedimentation/diffusion) and impact time (time from release until deposition) inside an acinar part of the lung. At first, the striking velocity magnitudes and time for impact (two independent properties) of three different particle diameters (0.5, 1.5, and 5 μm) are computed using CFD simulations. Then, machine learning classifiers determine the particle diameter corresponding to these two independent properties. In this study, two cases are compared: A healthy acinus where a surfactant layer covers the inner surface of the alveoli providing low air–liquid surface tension values (10 mN/m), and a diseased acinus where only a water layer covers the surface causing high surface tension values (70 mN/m). In this study, the airflow velocity throughout the breathing cycle corresponds to a person with a respiratory rate of 13 breaths per minute and a volume flow rate of 6 l/min. Accurate machine learning results showed that all three particle diameters attain larger velocities and smaller impact times in a diseased acinus compared to a healthy one. In both cases, the 0.5-μm particles acquire the smallest velocities and longest impact times, while the 1.5-μm particles possess the largest velocities and shortest impact times.
Lead free 0.9Na1/2Bi1/2TiO3–0.1BaZr0.2Ti0.8O3 thin film with large piezoelectric electrostrain
Authors: Yang Hao , Zhao Jinyan , Ren Wei , Ye Zuo-Guang , Vinayakumar K. B. , Dias Rosana A. , Pinto Rui M. R. , Zhuang Jian , Zhang Nan
Published: September 2022

A sodium bismuth titanate-based thin film is widely investigated lead-free piezoelectrics with potential applications for modern micro-devices such as PiezoMEMS. In this work, a 0.9Na1/2Bi1/2TiO3–0.1BaZr0.2Ti0.8O3 thin film was deposited on a Pt/Ti/SiO2/Si (001) substrate by the sol–gel spin coating method. The deposited piezoelectric film shows low dielectric loss and high remnant polarization. The measured ferroelectricity loop showed a coercive field of 110 kV/cm and a saturation polarization of 46.83 μC/cm2. The piezoelectric response of this thin film does not decrease from room temperature to around 100 °C. The fabricated piezoelectric device with bottom and top electrodes showed a large macro-scale strain value of ∼4% under the DC (30 V) and AC voltages (f = 800 kHz, Vpp = 10 V).
Maximum electro-momentum coupling in piezoelectric metamaterial scatterers
Authors: Lee Jeong-Ho , Zhang Zhizhou , Gu Grace X.
Published: September 2022

Engineered piezoelectric metamaterials can possess electro-momentum coupling between the macroscopic momentum and electric stimuli. This indicates the applicability of such metamaterials for wave scattering with an extra design degree of freedom, in the same way as Willis materials. To fully utilize this novel bianisotropy, we derive for the first-time theoretical bounds on electro-momentum coupling in wave scattering via energy conservation. As this coupling acts on both elastodynamics and electromagnetics, the polarizability tensor is generalized to fill their link in the bounds. Our derived bounds are verified via analytical scattering solutions. Results show that the bianisotropic scattering can be of the same order as the non-bianisotropic terms via the aid of electro-momentum coupling even for small Willis coupling. We further reveal the possibility of using electro-momentum coupling for tunable cloaking. This sheds light on the promising potential of piezoelectric metamaterials for tunable scattering devices whose bianisotropy can be modulated by external electric stimuli.
Coupling of ferroelectric and valley properties in 2D materials
Authors: Zheng Jun-Ding , Zhao Yi-Feng , Tan Yi-Fan , Guan Zhao , Zhong Ni , Yue Fang-Yu , Xiang Ping-Hua , Duan Chun-Gang
Published: September 2022

Two-dimensional (2D) valleytronic materials are both fundamentally intriguing and practically appealing to explore novel physics and design next-generation devices. However, traditional control means such as optic pumping or magnetic field cannot meet the demands of modern electron devices for miniaturization, low-dissipation, and non-volatility. Thus, it is attractive to combine the ferroelectric property with valley property in a single compound. In this paper, the recent progress of ferroelectric-valley coupling is reviewed. First, we briefly recall the development of valleytronics in the past several years. Then, various structures demonstrating ferroelectric-valley coupling, including heterostructures and intrinsic materials, are introduced. Subsequently, we describe ferroelectric-valley coupling in sliding and adsorption system and the unconventional ferroelectricity in the moiré system. Finally, we discuss the research status and outlook. We hope that this perspective will be helpful to bridge the gap between valleytronics and ferroelectrics in 2D materials and inspire further exciting findings.
An efficient discrete unified gas-kinetic scheme for compressible turbulence
Authors: Qi Yiming , Chen Tao , Wang Lian-Ping , Guo Zhaoli , Chen Shiyi
Published: September 2022

In this paper, we develop an efficient Boltzmann-equation-based mesoscopic approach to simulate three-dimensional (3D) compressible turbulence, using reduced Gauss–Hermite quadrature (GHQ) orders by redefining the second distribution in terms of the total energy in the double distribution function approach. This allows the use of two sets of 3D off-lattice discrete particle velocity models, namely, a 27 discrete velocity model of the seventh-order GHQ accuracy (D3V27A7) combined with a 13 discrete velocity model of the fifth-order GHQ accuracy (D3V13A5), to achieve full consistency with the Navier–Stokes–Fourier system. The source terms in the Boltzmann–Bhatnagar–Gross–Krook system are designed to adjust both the Prandtl number and bulk-to-shear viscosity ratio. Compressible decaying homogeneous isotropic turbulence (DHIT) is simulated at low and moderate turbulent Mach numbers to validate our code. It is observed that the simulation results are in good agreement with those in the existing literatures. Furthermore, the terms in the transport equation of turbulent kinetic energy are analyzed in detail, to illustrate four different transient stages from the initial random flow field to the developed DHIT. It is shown that the transient pressure-dilatation transfer happens rapidly, while the small-scale vortical structures take a longer time to establish physically. Compared to the existing literatures, our approach represents the most efficient mesoscopic scheme for compressible turbulence under the double distribution function formulation.
Study on stability of cavity in metal–organic chemical vapor deposition calculation based on neural network method
Authors: Li Jian , Qin Chao , Wang Jie , Wang Gang
Published: September 2022

The computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method is widely used to study the process parameters and internal flow states of reactor chambers based on metal–organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) to guide film growth. Currently, several machine learning models have been used in CFD studies, and the prediction accuracy of such models is positively correlated with the amount of data. Thus, two-dimensional (2D) models are used in CFD studies, while three-dimensional (3D) models contain more information and have been used more widely. Herein, neural network (NN) models for target regions based on a 3D MOCVD reactor are proposed and applied to flow-stability studies using the MOCVD reactor chamber. NN models are used to predict the cavity stability curve, and the range of process parameters can be controlled by the characteristics of the curve. NN prediction results have higher accuracy, after the model is established, which considerably reduces the work of CFD numerical simulation and lays a foundation for MOCVD equipment design and process debugging.
Review of Scientific Instruments New Products
Authors: Mandelis Andreas
Published: September 2022

In order to supplement manufacturers’ information, this department will welcome the submission by our readers of brief communications reporting measurements on the physical properties of materials that supersede earlier data or suggest new research applications.
H&E-like staining of OCT images of human skin via generative adversarial network
Authors: Tsai Sheng-Ting , Liu Chih-Hao , Chan Chin-Cheng , Li Yi-Hsin , Huang Sheng-Lung , Chen Homer H.
Published: September 2022

Noninvasive and high-speed optical coherence tomography (OCT) systems have been widely deployed for daily clinical uses. High-resolution OCTs are advancing rapidly; however, grey-level OCT images are not easy to read for pathologists due to the lack of diagnosis specificity compared with hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) stained images. This work presents an OCT to H&E image translation model to convert the OCT images to H&E-like stained images using unpaired OCT and H&E datasets. “H&E like” means the stratum corneum (SC) boundary and the dermal-epidermal junction (DEJ) of the OCT and the translated images are consistent. Pre-trained segmentation models for the DEJ and the SC are exploited to enhance the performance of anatomical image translation and reduce the DEJ and SC lower boundary errors to ±2.3 and ±1.7 μm, respectively. A pre-trained VGG16 network extracts the features of the nuclei. Pearson's correlation coefficient of the nuclei location and size consistency is 84% ± 1%. As a result, in vivo medical image translation accuracy with cellular resolution was achieved.
PI4P and BLOC-1 remodel endosomal membranes into tubules
Authors: Jani Riddhi Atul , Di Cicco Aurélie , Keren-Kaplan Tal , Vale-Costa Silvia , Hamaoui Daniel , Hurbain Ilse , Tsai Feng-Ching , Di Marco Mathilde , Macé Anne-Sophie , Zhu Yueyao , Amorim Maria João , Bassereau Patricia , Bonifacino Juan S. , Subtil Agathe , Marks Michael S. , Lévy Daniel , Raposo Graça , Delevoye Cédric
Published: September 2022

Intracellular trafficking is mediated by transport carriers that originate by membrane remodeling from donor organelles. Tubular carriers contribute to the flux of membrane lipids and proteins to acceptor organelles, but how lipids and proteins impose a tubular geometry on the carriers is incompletely understood. Using imaging approaches on cells and in vitro membrane systems, we show that phosphatidylinositol-4-phosphate (PI4P) and biogenesis of lysosome-related organelles complex 1 (BLOC-1) govern the formation, stability, and functions of recycling endosomal tubules. In vitro, BLOC-1 binds and tubulates negatively charged membranes, including those containing PI4P. In cells, endosomal PI4P production by type II PI4-kinases is needed to form and stabilize BLOC-1-dependent recycling endosomal tubules. Decreased PI4KIIs expression impairs the recycling of endosomal cargoes and the life cycles of intracellular pathogens such as Chlamydia bacteria and influenza virus that exploit the membrane dynamics of recycling endosomes. This study demonstrates how a phospholipid and a protein complex coordinate the remodeling of cellular membranes into functional tubules.
DSTYK inhibition increases the sensitivity of lung cancer cells to T cell–mediated cytotoxicity
Authors: Valencia Karmele , Echepare Mirari , Teijeira Álvaro , Pasquier Andrea , Bértolo Cristina , Sainz Cristina , Tamayo Ibon , Picabea Beñat , Bosco Graziella , Thomas Roman , Agorreta Jackeline , López-Picazo José María , Frigola Joan , Amat Ramon , Calvo Alfonso , Felip Enriqueta , Melero Ignacio , Montuenga Luis M.
Published: September 2022

Lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide. We identify DSTYK, a dual serine/threonine and tyrosine non-receptor protein kinase, as a novel actionable target altered in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). We also show DSTYK's association with a lower overall survival (OS) and poorer progression-free survival (PFS) in multiple patient cohorts. Abrogation of DSTYK in lung cancer experimental systems prevents mTOR-dependent cytoprotective autophagy, impairs lysosomal biogenesis and maturation, and induces accumulation of autophagosomes. Moreover, DSTYK inhibition severely affects mitochondrial fitness. We demonstrate in vivo that inhibition of DSTYK sensitizes lung cancer cells to TNF-α–mediated CD8+-killing and immune-resistant lung tumors to anti–PD-1 treatment. Finally, in a series of lung cancer patients, DSTYK copy number gain predicts lack of response to the immunotherapy. In summary, we have uncovered DSTYK as new therapeutic target in lung cancer. Prioritization of this novel target for drug development and clinical testing may expand the percentage of NSCLC patients benefiting from immune-based treatments.
A PDE proof of the Penrose inequality for perturbations of Schwarzschild initial data
Authors: Williams Hollis
Published: September 2022

The classical Penrose inequality relates the mass of an asymptotically flat spacetime to the total area of its black holes. We present a PDE-based proof of the Penrose inequality for a special class of perturbations of Schwarzschild initial data. The proof is based around linearising solutions to a version of the Jang equation which is modified to deal with warped product metrics. We discuss the possibility of generalising the argument to a wider class of perturbations.
Novel logarithmic corrections to black hole entropy
Authors: Ghosh Aritra , Mukherji Sudipta , Bhamidipati Chandrasekhar
Published: September 2022

For a thermodynamic system, apart from thermal fluctuations, there are also fluctuations in thermodynamic volume when the system is in contact with a volume reservoir. For the case of black holes in anti-de Sitter spacetimes, the effect of thermal fluctuations on the entropy is well studied. The aim of this work is to compute novel logarithmic corrections to black hole entropy coming from simultaneous fluctuations of energy and thermodynamic volume. We work in the isothermal-isobaric ensemble and first obtain a general form of corrections to entropy which are valid for any thermodynamic system. Applying the formalism to Kerr black holes in AdS reveals that the black hole entropy gets corrected as:

S
=

S

0

−
k

ln

S

0

+
⋯

where S
0 is given by the Bekenstein–Hawking formula and k = −1. The same leading coefficient is also obtained in the canonical ensemble, i.e. by considering energy fluctuations alone. This coefficient is found to be unaltered in the slowly rotating and high temperature limits.
Matrix method for perturbed black hole metric with discontinuity
Authors: Shen Shui-Fa , Qian Wei-Liang , Lin Kai , Shao Cheng-Gang , Pan Yu
Published: September 2022

Recent studies based on the notion of black hole pseudospectrum indicated substantial instability of the fundamental and high-overtone quasinormal modes (QNMs). Besides its theoretical novelty, the details about the migration of the QNM spectrum due to specific perturbations may furnish valuable information on the properties of associated gravitational waves in a more realistic context. This work generalizes the matrix method for black hole QNMs to cope with a specific class of perturbations to the metric featured by discontinuity, which is known to be intimately connected with the QNM structural instability. In practice, the presence of discontinuity poses a difficulty so that many well-known approaches for QNMs cannot be straightforwardly applied. By comparing with other methods, we show that the modified matrix method is efficient, which can be used to solve for the low-lying modes with reasonable precision. Therefore, it might serve as an alternative gadget for relevant studies.
Photoelectric characteristics of Al-doped ZnO/p-Si diode prepared by radio frequency magnetron sputtering
Authors: Lu Xiao-Ling , Guo Xiao-Bin , Su Feng-Chao , Qiu Wen-Hai , Su Zheng , Li Jun , Li Wen-Hua , Jiang Yan-Ping , Tang Zhen-Hua , Tang Xin-Gui
Published: September 2022

Al-doped ZnO (AZO) thin films were deposited on p-type silicon (p-Si) substrates by radio frequency magnetron sputtering technology. The crystal structure, morphology characterization and elemental analysis show that AZO film grows along the c-axis (002) orientation without other impurities. The current–voltage and current-time characteristics under different illumination conditions demonstrate that the Au/AZO/p-Si diode has typical rectification behavior, excellent stability and repeatability. The photocurrent is proportional to the intensity of ultraviolet (UV) irradiation, and the photocurrent reaches 110 μA at a bias voltage of 5 V under 11.75 mW cm−2 UV light irradiation. By calculating the conduction band and valence band offset values of AZO/p-Si heterojunction, the energy band diagrams at different bias states are constructed to explain the photoelectric response behavior. These results will be helpful for the design of high-performance photodiodes.
The epitaxial growth and unique morphology of InAs quantum dots embedded in a Ge matrix
Authors: Jia Hui , Yang Junjie , Tang Mingchu , Li Wei , Jurczak Pamela , Yu Xuezhe , Zhou Taojie , Park Jae-Seong , Li Keshuang , Deng Huiwen , Yu Xueying , Li Ang , Chen Siming , Seeds Alwyn , Liu Huiyun
Published: September 2022

In this work, we investigate the epitaxial growth of InAs quantum dots (QDs) on Ge substrates. By varying the growth parameters of growth temperature, deposition thickness and the growth rate of InAs, high density (1.2 × 1011 cm−2) self-assembled InAs QDs were successfully epitaxially grown on Ge substrates by solid-source molecular beam epitaxy and capped by Ge layers. Pyramid- and polyhedral-shaped InAs QDs embedded in Ge matrices were revealed, which are distinct from the lens- or truncated pyramid-shaped dots in InAs/GaAs or InAs/Si systems. Moreover, with a 200 nm Ge capping layer, one-third of the embedded QDs are found with elliptical and hexagonal nanovoids with sizes of 7–9 nm, which, to the best of our knowledge, is observed for the first time for InAs QDs embedded in a Ge matrix. These results provide a new possibility of integrating InAs QD devices on group-IV platforms for Si photonics.
Examination of OH and H2O2 production by uniform and non-uniform modes of dielectric barrier discharge in He/air mixture
Authors: Yatom Shurik , Dobrynin Danil
Published: September 2022

In this work we have carried out a parametrical study of hydroxyl radical (OH) generation in nanosecond dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) in He/air mixture using a laser-induced fluorescence approach. The foci of the study are the investigation of differences between uniform and non-uniform modes of the discharges and the difference in production of OH and H2O2 Nanosecond-time scale imaging of the discharge shows transition from streamer to diffuse mode when applied electric field to the discharge gap approaches ∼90 kV cm−1. The results show that both OH production in the gas phase and downstream H2O2 delivery rates to liquid depend on the discharge mode operation and are respectively 30% and 3 times higher for the non-uniform DBD compared to the diffuse discharge.
Wind turbine planetary gearbox fault diagnosis using circular pitch cyclic vector and a bidirectional gated recurrent unit
Authors: Zhang Pinyang , Chen Changzheng
Published: September 2022

A planetary gearbox with large transmission ratio is a critical component of a wind turbine (WT). When the planetary gearbox suffers from failure, the regular variation of circular pitch vibration energy contains fault pattern information. Although deep learning-based fault diagnosis models have the capability for automatic feature extraction, they rarely consider emphasizing the energy variation characteristics related to the planetary transmission structure in the data representation stage, which degrades the fault diagnosis performance. To solve this problem, this paper describes a novel data representation method, circular pitch cyclic vector (CPCV) and, on this basis, proposes a WT planetary gearbox fault diagnosis method using CPCV and a bidirectional gated recurrent unit (BGRU). Firstly, this paper utilizes root mean square value as the energy evaluation metric for calculating the CPCV. Then, the mapping relationship between circular pitch energy and the ring gear mesh phase is captured using the BGRU through its bidirectional learning capability. Finally, a fully connected layer with softmax is used for fault classification. The proposed method is evaluated by analyzing the in-service WT vibration data collected from a wind farm in eastern China. The experimental results and comparison analysis illustrate the superiority of the proposed method.
A high-accuracy calibration method for fusion systems of millimeter-wave radar and camera
Authors: Wang Xiyue , Wang Xinsheng , Zhou Zhiquan
Published: September 2022

Multi-sensor information fusion is widely used in the field of unmanned aerial vehicles obstacle avoidance flight, particularly in millimeter-wave (MMW) radar and camera fusion systems. Calibration accuracy plays a crucial role in fusion systems. The low-angle measurement accuracy of the MMW radar usually causes large calibration errors. To reduce calibration errors, a high-accuracy calibration method based on a region of interest (ROI) and an artificial potential field was proposed in this paper. The ROI was selected based on the initial calibration information and the MMW radar’s angle measurement error range from the image. An artificial potential field was established using the pixels of the ROI. Two moving points were set at the left and right ends of the ROI initially. The potential forces of the two moving points are different because the pixels of the obstacle and the background are different in the image. The two moving points were iteratively moved towards each other according to the force until their distance was less than the iteration step. The new calibration point is located in the middle of the final position of the two moving points. In contrast to the existing calibration methods, the proposed method avoids the limitations of low angle measurement accuracy by using image pixels. The experimental results show that the calibration errors decrease by 83.95% and 75.79%, which is significantly improved compared to the traditional methods and indicates the efficiency of the proposed method.
Augmented flame image soft sensor for combustion oxygen content prediction
Authors: Gao Shuang , Dai Yun , Li Yingjie , Jiang Yuxin , Liu Yi
Published: September 2022

Oxygen content is one of the most critical factors for high-efficiency combustion. Online measurement of oxygen content from flame images is important but still challenging. For construction of an oxygen content prediction model, most current feature extraction methods are not straightforward. Additionally, there are always sufficient data for common operating conditions in practice, while only limited data for other operating conditions. The data collection process for model training is costly and time-consuming. To tackle the problem, this work presents an augmented flame image soft sensor for automated combustion oxygen content prediction. A convolutional neural network (CNN) regression model is designed to predict the oxygen content directly from flame images, without a single feature extraction process. Moreover, a regression generative adversarial network with gradient penalty is proposed to generate flame images with oxygen content labels. It overcomes the imbalanced and insufficient data problem arising in the CNN regression model training. The proposed soft sensor is compared with several common regression methods for oxygen content prediction. Experimental results show that the proposed method can predict the combustion oxygen content with high accuracy from flame images although the original datasets are imbalanced.
Collaborative multi-feature extraction and scale-aware semantic information mining for medical image segmentation
Authors: Zhang Ruijun , He Zixuan , Zhu Jian , Yuan Xiaochen , Huang Guoheng , Pun Chi-Man , Peng Jianhong , Lin Junzhong , Zhou Jian
Published: September 2022

Objective. In recent years, methods based on U-shaped structure and skip connection have achieved remarkable results in many medical semantic segmentation tasks. However, the information integration capability of this structure is still limited due to the incompatibility of feature maps of encoding and decoding stages at corresponding levels and lack of extraction of valid information in the final stage of encoding. This structural defect is particularly obvious in segmentation tasks with non-obvious, small and blurred-edge targets. Our objective is to design a novel segmentation network to solve the above problems. Approach. The segmentation network named Global Context-Aware Network is mainly designed by inserting a Multi-feature Collaboration Adaptation (MCA) module, a Scale-Aware Mining (SAM) module and an Edge-enhanced Pixel Intensity Mapping (Edge-PIM) into the U-shaped structure. Firstly, the MCA module can integrate information from all encoding stages and then effectively acts on the decoding stages, solving the problem of information loss during downsampling and pooling. Secondly, the SAM module can further mine information from the encoded high-level features to enrich the information passed to the decoding stage. Thirdly, Edge-PIM can further refine the segmentation results by edge enhancement. Main results. We newly collect Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Colorectal Cancer Liver Metastases (MRI-CRLM) dataset in different imaging sequences with non-obvious, small and blurred-edge liver metastases. Our method performs well on the MRI-CRLM dataset and the publicly available ISIC-2018 dataset, outperforming state-of-the-art methods such as CPFNet on multiple metrics after boxplot analysis, indicating that it can perform well on a wide range of medical image segmentation tasks. Significance. The proposed method solves the problem mentioned above and improved segmentation accuracy for non-obvious, small and blurred-edge targets. Meanwhile, the proposed visualization method Edge-PIM can make the edge more prominent, which can assist medical radiologists in their research work well.
Above-100 MeV proton beam generation from near-critical-density plasmas irradiated by moderate Laguerre–Gaussian laser pulses
Authors: Hu Yan-Ting , Cao Yue , Zhao Jie , Zhang Guo-Bo , Liu Ke , Hu Li-Xiang , Yu Tong-Pu
Published: September 2022

High-quality protons have many potential applications in tumor therapy, proton radiography, fast ignition and nuclear physics. Over recent decades, significant progress has been made in generating such proton beams with lasers. However, it is still challenging to achieve a compact proton beam with an energy of hundreds of MeV under the laser intensities currently available. Here, we propose a novel scheme to produce above-100 MeV protons in nonuniform near-critical-density (NCD) plasmas driven by a Laguerre–Gaussian (LG) laser pulse. When a linearly-polarized LG laser pulse with the intensity of ∼1020 W cm−2 enters the NCD plasmas with a trapezoidal density profile, a donut-like double-channel structure with an electron column on the axis is produced behind the laser pulse, together with a unique, strong magnetic field. At the end of the density plateau, the magnetic field begins to expand in both longitudinal and transverse directions. The magnetic pressure force displaces the electrons with regard to the protons, resulting in a quasi-static electric field

E

x

S

. This electrostatic field can remain robust and be sustaintained for a long time since the magnetic field decreases very slowly, i.e.

E

x

S

∝
▽

B

z

2

. Thus, the protons can be accelerated by the longitudinal electrostatic field and confined by the generated transverse focusing field. Three dimensional particle-in-cell simulations confirmed that a well-defined above-100 MeV proton beam with a cut-off energy at least 3.5 times larger than that of the normal Gaussian laser could be obtained, making the proton beams a potential source for tumor therapy in the future.