Search

To optimize the dispersion of the fundamental weaker hybrid implicit explicit in the finite-difference time-domain method, a lower dispersion method is proposed by optimization parameters. A series of important parameters related to the numerical dispersion is analyzed. Results show that the low-dispersion method improves the dispersion property significantly without changing the stability condition. In addition, an antenna example is adopted and verifies the effectiveness of the proposed low-dispersion method. Simulation results of various methods above are in very good agreement with the experiment.

Microwave resonator-based sensors primarily exploit the changes in resonant frequency and quality factor to characterize magneto-dielectric (MD) materials loaded on the sensor’s hotspot zones, where strong electromagnetic (EM) fields are present. However, a difficulty arises in characterizing the electric permittivity and magnetic permeability simultaneously due to their similar impact on the sensor’s resonant frequency and quality factor. This challenge is further complicated by the cross-sensitivity effects when characterizing multiple MD samples, which is important for applications requiring high sensitivity. This work presents a microwave sensor consisting of a $2\times 2$ array of complementary split ring resonators (CSRRs) for simultaneously characterizing the permittivity and permeability of MD materials. Four sensing zones with highly concentrated electric fields were created to characterize the complex permittivity, while four zones with highly concentrated magnetic fields were implemented to measure the complex permeability of multiple MD samples with high sensitivity and low cross-sensitivity. The sensor’s measured resonant frequency and quality factor, when loaded with the samples, were used to extract the real and imaginary parts of permeability and permittivity. To validate the proposed method, a prototype of the sensor, operating at 2.9 GHz with a quality factor of 250, was fabricated and tested with multiple MD testing samples. The results demonstrate a strong correlation (0.021 for $\varepsilon _{r}$ and 0.02 for $\mu _{r}$ ) between the reference data and the experimental values with high sensitivity (58 MHz/ $\varepsilon _{r}$ and 26 MHz/ $\mu _{r}$ ).

Skin is one of the barriers for organisms to resist the stimulation of the external environment. Hundreds of millions of microorganisms are implanted on the skin surface, and skin microorganisms are crucial to the maintenance of skin homeostasis. They not only repair damaged skin barriers but also improve wound healing and promote regeneration of skin appendages through specific mechanisms. Here, we highlight how the microbiome mediates skin barrier homeostasis and summarize recent advances in its role in wound healing and promoting skin accessory regeneration. Finally, we call for researchers to pay more attention to the role of commensal microorganisms in skin and its appendage regeneration.

Two compact bandpass filters (BPFs) based on the coupling-enhanced transformer and metamaterial lowpass structure are presented. The coupling-enhanced transformer is introduced to reduce the insertion loss in the desired passband. Moreover, for the first time, a new metamaterial lowpass structure is proposed to generate multiple transmission zeros (TZs) and can achieve high stopband suppression in a wide upper stopband. Its even-odd mode equivalent circuits are discussed, and its Bloch impedance and dispersion are analyzed. The first BPF operates at 1.85 GHz and the second BPF operates at 2.45 GHz, which can achieve an insertion loss of less than 1.0 and 0.8 dB, respectively. These two BPFs can achieve 30 dB attenuation from 4.7 to 7.5 GHz and 20 dB attenuation up to $7.2~f_{0}$ , respectively. Both designs have a compact size of less than $1.3\times 10^{-2}~\lambda _{0} \times 6.5\times 10^{-3}~\lambda _{0}$ . Two prototypes are fabricated using Si-based integrated passive devices (IPDs) technology and validated with measurements.

Frequency splitting, a phenomenon causing transfer efficiency decreasing in wireless power transfer (WPT) systems when the coupling strength is too strong, can be suppressed by combining the magnetic and the electric couplings with out-of-phase polarities to constitute a hybrid WPT (HWPT) structure. In this article, the exact critical coupling coefficient of the HWPT structure is obtained from the ridge equation of the analytical efficiency expression. It is found to approximate 1/ $Q$ ( $Q$ is the loaded quality factor of the resonators), which shows a similar property with the conventional inductively coupled WPT (IPT) system. In order to improve the efficiency after the critical coupling distance, the magnetic coupling only or the in-phase structures are proposed and realized by rotating the transmitter and adjusting the values of the electric coupling. In addition, for the applications requiring high efficiency over a long transfer distance, a design procedure of the resonator is given with the help of the analytical relationships between the electric parameters and geometrical parameters of the coupling structures. The electromagnetic simulations (ANSYS HFSS) and experiments show good agreement with the theory. The efficiency can hold above 70% within 40–260-mm transfer distance. Compared with the existing HWPT system, the operating distance range is extended from 130 to 220 mm, featuring an $\sim $ 69% improvement.

This article introduces a broadband outphasing power amplifier (OPA) design in virtue of a reconfigurable output combiner. Two T-type matching structures loaded with varactors are applied to replace the transmission lines in the conventional architecture. To have broadband performance, the bias voltage applied to the varactors is adjusted when the frequency changes, ensuring proper phase shifting amounts required for outphasing operation. This technique compensates for the frequency dispersion effects inherent in the conventional combiner. Besides, to provide the subamplifiers with correct reactance compensation and impedance in a large frequency band, a postmatching network (PMN) is further employed. These design strategies help to improve the bandwidth and drain efficiency (DE) of the whole OPA. For demonstration, a prototype circuit is successfully implemented using two 10-W GaN HEMT transistors. At 6-dB back-off (BO) power, over 49.3% DE is achieved from 2.4 to 2.8 GHz, accounting for 15.4% fractional bandwidth. In addition, a minimum of 63.6% DE is maintained at saturation in the same frequency band.

Neuron-specific enolase (NSE), a tumor marker of small cell lung cancer (SCLC), has high application value in the early diagnosis of SCLC. In this study, a dual signal electrochemical aptasensor for NSE was constructed based on hemin/reduced graphene oxide/multi-walled carbon nanotube (H–rGO–MWCNT) nanocomposites. Hemin played a dual role, functioning not only as an in situelectrochemical probe but also exhibiting excellent peroxidase-like properties, effectively catalyzing the electroreduction of H2O2. Reduced graphene oxide and multi-walled carbon nanotubes exhibited excellent conductivity. Through their binding with hemin, the nanocomposites achieved a larger specific surface area, providing numerous active sites for capturing the NSE aptamer. In the presence of NSE, the specific adsorption between the antigen and the aptamer formed a stable antigen–aptamer structure, which inhibited the performance of hemin, resulting in the weakening of the electrochemical signals of hemin and H2O2. Leveraging these characteristics, the sensitive and cost-effective dual-signal electrochemical aptasensor has been fabricated for the detection of NSE. One signal corresponded to differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) of hemin, while the other signal was derived from chronoamperometry, capturing the catalytic reduction of H2O2. The linear ranges for NSE were 1 pg mL−1to 1 μg mL−1and 100 pg mL−1to 100 ng mL−1with the limit of detection (LOD) of 0.21 pg mL−1and 11.22 pg mL−1by DPV and chronoamperometry, respectively. In addition, this aptasensor exhibited good reproducibility, stability and specificity. The recovery of NSE in human blood serum samples was from 89% to 131%. It provided a promising strategy for the detection of NSE in clinical diagnostics.

External perturbations applied at the exceptional point (EP) of parity-time (PT) or anti-PT (APT) symmetric systems demonstrate the extreme sensitivity of eigenvalues. The phase transition toward the eigenvalue-coalesced state, however, restricts the sensing functionality in a certain perturbation direction. Here, we construct a system with a global Hamiltonian that simultaneously satisfies PT and APT symmetries. By strategically setting coincident EPs of PT and APT symmetries, a bidirectional sensing functionality is realized. Furthermore, the challenge of wired resistive coupling (imaginary coupling) in existing electronic APT-symmetric structures is overcome via substituting it with wireless, cascaded, and inductive couplings (real couplings). After integrating a pair of dual APT-symmetric subsystems into a PT-symmetric system, a fully wireless and bidirectional sensing system is constructed by using coupled RLC resonators. The simulations and experiments are good consistent with the theoretical analysis of the system behavior, following an $\sim \vert \varepsilon \vert ^{0.5}$ sensitivity for the perturbation $\varepsilon $ at the EP. Our work lays the groundwork for wireless APT-symmetric systems in electronics and coexistent PT- and APT-symmetric systems in physics as well.

A low-profile folded transmitarray antenna (FTA) with independent amplitude and phase control is proposed for the applications of millimeter-wave (mm-wave) communication. The proposed FTA is composed of three functional parts, i.e., an independent amplitude-phase controlling metasurface (MS) on the top, a polarization-converter on the bottom, and a feeding antenna. Particularly, by using spatially designed amplitude on the aperture of the top MS with the specification of the Taylor distribution, much lower side-lobe levels (SLLs) could be effectively realized. The ray-tracing method is used to reduce the profile height and integrate both the feeding antenna and the polarization converter. The proposed FTA, which is fully integrated and fabricated using low-cost printed circuit board (PCB) technology, is verified by the theoretical analysis, full-wave simulation and experimental measurements of a prototype covering the entire 5G mm-wave n257 bands (26.5 to 29.5 GHz). The measured results show that the proposed FTA has a 3 dB gain bandwidth of 19% from 24.8 to 30 GHz and a peak gain of 21.08 dBi with an aperture efficiency of 18.3%. Especially, compared to traditional FTAs with phase modulations only, the proposed FTA performs an average SLLs reduction of more than 5.0 dB. The simulated and measured results coincide to confirm the feature and effectiveness of the FTA with the excellent performance.

Graphic abstract:

This brief presents the design of a dual-band outphasing power amplifier (OPA) using multiple topology fitting. By adding extra transmission lines to the traditional noncommensurate transmission lines, the design space for the output combiner is largely expanded. Different line combinations with good load modulation effects can be chosen according to frequency and circuit dimension. As a proof of concept, a prototype OPA operating at 2.6 and 3.5 GHz is fabricated based on two 10-W GaN HEMTs. The fabricated circuit achieves saturation output power of 44.4 and 44.3 dBm at the two selected frequency bands, with accompanying peak drain efficiencies of 69.5% and 69.2%. Meanwhile, the corresponding efficiencies at 6-dB power back-off points are 62.4% and 63.5%, respectively.

Shortwave net radiation (SWNR) plays an important role in the surface radiation balance and serves as the primary driving force for the exchange of surface and atmospheric materials. Although numerous algorithms exist for estimating SWNR, most of them tend to ignore the influence of aerosols and digital elevation model (DEM) on SWNR. Specifically, the impact of different aerosol types on SWNR can vary significantly, and the SWNR also exhibits considerable variations at different altitudes. It is true that many algorithms demonstrate higher accuracy in low-altitude regions with less polluted rural aerosol (nonabsorbent aerosol) areas. However, their accuracy tends to decrease when applied to high-altitude areas and heavily polluted urban aerosol (absorbent aerosol) regions. In this study, an improved all-sky parameterized algorithm is proposed to estimate SWNR by fully considering solar zenith angle (SZA), DEM, and different aerosol types, and rural and urban aerosol types are distinguished by a random forest (RF) method. The new algorithm is verified versus surface radiation budget network (SURFRAD) and baseline surface radiation network (BSRN) observations and compared with the traditional algorithms (Tang-2006 and Li-1993) and Clouds and the Earth’s Radiant Energy System (CERES) products. The results reveal that the new algorithm exhibits excellent accuracy at both instantaneous and hourly scales. For rural and urban aerosol types under all-sky conditions, the bias and root mean square error (RMSE) of the new algorithm are both less than 3.5 and 106.5 W/m on the instantaneous scale and less than 12 and 77 W/ $\text{m}^{2}$ on hourly scale, respectively. However, the existing algorithms show a significant overestimation (bias > 50 W/ $\text{m}^{2}$ ) for the urban aerosol type under various atmospheres conditions. For the CERES single scanner footprint (SSF) (instantaneous) and CERES SYNergy (CERES SYN, 1-hourly) products, the overestimation phenomenon is also detected under urban aerosol type, with bias greater than 40 and 15 W/ $\text{m}^{2}$ , respectively. Compared with the existing algorithms, the new algorithm demonstrates superior applicability under larger SZA conditions. When the SZA exceeds 70°, the rate of estimated effective value can be increased by up to 14%. In addition, the new algorithm can effectively solve the problem of underestimation in high-altitude areas, which frequently occurs in most existing algorithms (bias $< -16$ W/ $\text{m}^{2}$ ). The improved accuracy and applicability of the new algorithm, along with its strategy of distinguishing aerosol types, can provide valuable insights for the SWNR estimation from space.

The airflow sensor enabled by triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) is significant for intelligent lab safety and human–computer interaction applications. However, the reported airflow/wind sensor focuses on enhancing the sensing materials and structures, lack of high resolution, and smart signal analysis. Herein, we present a self-powered micro-airflow sensor and its artificial intelligence (AI) system, applied for lab safety and human–computer interaction. The as-fabricated sensor has a high sensitivity of $0.6258~\mu \text{A}$ /(m/s) and a linearity of 0.9968. Attributing to the Venturi effect, the minimum detection velocity of the sensor is 0.13 m/s. Given the sensor performance, we develop a real-time pipeline gas leak location system with an AI user interface, which achieves a potential low detect error $\le 2.9$ cm. In addition, we successfully explore other applications, including human exit–entry counting, ventilation alarm, and breath-based smart aid communication. Above all, the airflow sensor exhibits tremendous potential in the AI and Internet of Things.

In order to improve the numerical dispersion property of the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method further, two optimized low-dispersion schemes are herein proposed, which are based on the complying-divergence implicit (CDI) FDTD method and its one-step leapfrog method. These proposed approaches effectively reduce the numerical dispersion errors by intervening with anisotropic parameters while maintaining unconditional stability. The numerical stability and dispersion properties are analyzed in detail to illustrate their effectiveness. The factors, which impact the numerical dispersion including propagation angles, Courant–Friedrichs–Lewy (CFL) number, nonuniform multiscale, mesh resolution, and frequency are carefully examined. In addition, by using the dual-/triple-band multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antennas as numerical examples, the practicality of the optimization schemes is comprehensively validated by comparing the calculation time, memory resource, and relative error with those from the traditional and leapfrog CDI-FDTD methods. It is worth celebrating the superiority of the proposed schemes not only in terms of numerical dispersion, but also in calculation efficiency, solution accuracy, and floating-point operands.

Inverse scattering problems (ISPs) with a limited aperture have higher nonlinearity owing to the fewer measurement data, which brings more challenges in the application of full-wave quantitative imaging. To solve the ISPs with limited aperture, an unrolling algorithm of subspace-based optimization method under physical contraction integral equation subspace optimization method (CIE-SOM), named CIE-SOM-NET, is proposed. The CIE model reduces nonlinearity, enabling CIE-SOM-NET to achieve better results in addressing regression problems. The proposed algorithm is composed of several submodules, and each submodule is constructed with a small convolutional neural network (CNN) and an operator of least square method, which are utilized to update the induced current and the modified contrast function, respectively. In addition, a weighted loss function, which is composed of the consistency function of the induced current, the scattered field, and the relative permittivity, is defined to constrain the training process in the physical CIE model. Compared to traditional iterative inversion methods, the proposed CIE-SOM-NET exhibits several merits in terms of imaging accuracy and computational cost. The proposed method also achieves better stability and robustness compared to the initial SOM-NET. Several numerical examples validate that the proposed CIE-SOM-NET has excellent inversion performance in the case of limited aperture.

High-quality recording of human bio-signals is very important for biomedical engineering research and clinical medical diagnosis. However, with the most commonly used wet electrode in the clinic, it is always hard to avoid problems of skin irritation, allergic reactions, and time-consuming skin preparation. In comparison, the flat dry electrode is less stimulative to skin and more convenient to use, but exhibits higher interface impedance and sensitivity to human motion. In this work, the highly reliable and reusable microneedle array electrodes (MAEs) are fabricated by micromolding technology and modified by drop coating to solve the above problems. The effects of silver nanoparticles (Ag), poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT):poly(sodiumstyrenesulfonate) (PPS), and Ag-PPS (Ag with PPS bilayer) modifications on interface impedance and bio-signal quality of the Au-MAEs are studied. The results indicate that the bilayer Ag-PPS-modified MAEs exhibit the most significant decrease in impedance (251.95 ± 8.35 $\text{k}\Omega $ to 7.81 ± 0.65 $\text{k}\Omega $ at 10 Hz) and increase in signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) (4.10 ± 0.52 to 10.71 ± 0.16) than the conventional wet electrode owing to the impedance reduction mechanisms based on physical puncture and electrochemical reaction. A novel equivalent circuit model is proposed to explain the two kinds of impedance reduction mechanisms. In addition, the mechanical test results prove that the modified microneedles could effectively penetrate the skin under 4 N of penetration force without bending or peeling and there is no significant skin irritation and allergic reactions after recording for 6 h. This dry MAE provides an alternative for stable bio-signal recording on the skin, including electrocardiograph (ECG) and electromyography (EMG).

This letter presents a novel high isolation monocone antenna array for Wi-Fi 6 applications. Conical radiator, top patch, and shorting pins are combined to obtain an ultrawide operating bandwidth, which covers the full Wi-Fi 6 frequency bands. The decoupling structure consists of two parts: 1) higher-frequency decoupling element (HDE); 2) lower-frequency decoupling element (LDE). LDE consists of a pair of C-shaped rings, a metal strip and three shorting pins. HDE is composed of two T-shaped metal strips placed vertically on the ground. For further investigation, the equivalent circuit model of the proposed antennas is adopted to explain the decoupling principles. Design formulas are rigorously derived to facilitate the construction of decoupling structures. For verification, a dual-band monocone multiple-input–multiple-output (MIMO) antenna with edge-to-edge spacing of 0.1388λ0 (evaluated at lower frequency) is prototyped and characterized. The measured results reveal that proposed antenna can offer enhanced port isolation (23 dB/40 dB), increased antenna efficiency (>80%) and improved pattern diversity.

This letter introduces a new approach to designing a wideband decoupling and matching network (DMN) for two-element antenna arrays. The DMN consists of three layers, which can generate three in-band transmission zeros (TZs), resulting in an ultra-wide decoupling bandwidth exceeding 1.0 GHz. The decoupling and matching problems are transformed into two classical impedance matching problems using Even-Odd-Mode theory, which simplifies the network design process. To facilitate the network design, genetic algorithm is used to search for the optimal circuit parameters of DMN. The proposed method is verified using inverted triangular monopoles, and a prototype of the antenna with the proposed DMN is designed, manufactured, and characterized experimentally. Our simulation and experimental results demonstrate that the proposed design can offer ultra-wide operating bandwidth (2.11–3.12 GHz), improved isolation (>20 dB), and high efficiency.

In recent years, optogenetic-based neural regulation technologies have attracted extensive attention. Among them, the active neural optrode integrated with optical stimulating micro-laser diode (LD)/light-emitting diode (LED) and electrical recording microelectrodes presents significant advantages. However, the performance of the neural optrode is still hindered by high amplitude noises generated by micro-LD/LED and silicon substrate. A silicon optrode with heavy-doped probes, LD-coupled optical fiber, and electrochemical modified microelectrodes is here developed for low-noise and high-fidelity optical modulation. First, the electromagnetic interference (EMI) free and high-efficiency optical stimulation is realized by adopting an optical coupling module with microfabricated locating slot. Second, the photovoltaic (PV) noise and the photoelectrochemical (PEC) noise are significantly decreased by an order of magnitude through combination of heavy doping and electrochemical modification of the optrode. More importantly, it is confirmed for the first time that the PV and PEC noise can be further reduced by an order of magnitude through LD driving pulse shaping. Finally, the in vivo acute recording experiments show that the light-induced photoelectric noise ( $< 50 \mu \text{V}$ ) has little influence on the firing rate (1.2 spikes/s) and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR = 4.9) of the recorded signals accompanied by optical stimulation. The results indicate that the developed noise mitigation strategies are promising for optogenetics-based neural circuit research.

Nowadays, light detection and ranging (LiDAR) plays an important role in environmental perception technology; however, LiDAR cannot detect some blocked objects, and it can even detect some incorrect and unimportant objects as target objects due to the sparsity and disorder of the point cloud and the limited receiving area. Indeed, the detection accuracy can be improved by setting multiple cameras and LiDAR, but the cost can be unacceptable. In order to resolve these issues, a transformer-based architecture that can connect voxels with each other by neighborhood sparse attention is proposed. A standardized transformer, however, cannot be applied directly to sparse point cloud space because it contains a large number of empty voxels. Hence, a scheme of neighborhood sparse voxel attention to window attention (NSAW) is introduced, which is an efficient and accurate single stride transformer for connecting 3-D backbone to 2-D bird-eye-view (BEV) feature map. In this architecture, neighborhood window attention (NWA) and neighborhood voxel attention (NVA) are proposed to effectively extract features from no-empty voxels, which can achieve 84.30% average precision with 40 recall points (AP3D(R40)) and bring 2.68% AP3D(R40) improvement for Voxel region-based convolutional neural network (R-CNN) on the moderate car class on the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and Toyota Technological Institute (KITTI) test split. On the premise of computational efficiency, the proposed NSAW demonstrates quite a few improvements over the traditional baselines on KITTI3D dataset.

A novel compact triple-mode ceramic monoblock filter for 5G applications is proposed. The main resonator is a low-profile triple-mode ceramic cavity with silver coating and surface slots. By adding a source–load coupling cell to the single monoblock, the single monoblock filter with fully canonical transversal topology with three transmission zeros is achieved. This proposed filter with fully canonical transversal topology can achieve wideband, low insertion loss, and wide spurious-free window. To obtain sharper selectivity and higher out-of-band (OOB) rejections, a higher order filter is designed here by cascading two single monoblock filters with a microstrip line. Due to the very low profile and operating principle of the monoblock, there are no harmonics around $1.2f_{\text {C}}$ (where $f_{\text {C}}$ is the center frequency), which are inherent harmonics for triple-mode cubic dielectric cavity filters with three similar side lengths. The source–load coupling cell is also introduced to expand the spurious-free window by generating a transmission zero at higher harmonics. The proposed filters can achieve ultracompact size, no holes inside the blocks, and no rotated slots on silver surfaces, which are beneficial for system integration, mass production, and machining accuracy improvement. Two prototypes operating at 3.5 GHz (center frequency) have been fabricated. The measured and simulated results agree well with each other.

Longwave downward radiation (LWDR) is an important parameter that modulates the Earth’s radiation and energy balance and is also a key variable that affects global warming. Currently, although many reanalysis LWDR products and satellite-based algorithms are available, their coarse spatiotemporal resolutions, as well as the difficulties in organizing the corresponding driving parameters, seriously limit their applications. As China’s new generation geostationary satellite, Fengyun-4A (FY-4A) provides higher spatial and temporal resolutions (4 km@nadir, 15 min at full disk mode) at longwave infrared channels, which can routinely monitor the changes of the Earth’s radiation in near real time, and therefore, provide great potentials in generating various high-accuracy radiation products. Unfortunately, the existing official LWDR products of FY-4A can only provide estimates under clear skies, and their accuracy still has much room for improvement. For the above-mentioned points, an improved general all-sky parameterization algorithm is proposed based on readily available input variables, such as land surface temperature (LST), column water vapor (CWV), and cloud-top temperature (CTT). Then the new algorithm is applied to FY-4A, aiming to derive a believable all-sky LWDR. The validation results show that the new algorithm does show a noticeable improvement over the original one by reducing the relatively large errors in LWDR under extremely cold and dry conditions (flux range < 150 W/m2), as well as the large bias in the polar and high altitude regions. Moreover, the new method can generate a more reliable LWDR than that of the FY-4A official product in terms of both spatiotemporal continuity and accuracy, with RMSE less than 22 W/m2 and bias less than 0.5 W/m2 under all-sky conditions. The easy-to-use and believable performance of the new algorithm provides an opportunity to accurately derive all-sky LWDR from FY-4A and similar satellite missions with high resolutions.

Novel wideband half-mode substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) bandpass filters based on the quad-mode resonator are proposed in this brief. The proposed half-mode SIW bandpass filter A is composed of two half-mode SIW structures and two T-shaped slots on the top surface. The coupling matrix topology and equivalent circuit model are presented to analyze the performance. The wide band of filter A is designed on the basis of quad-mode resonator (TE101, TE102, TE103, and TE104). Besides, it can generate one transmission zero on the upper stopband due to the equivalent inductance (connecting metallic line between two half-mode SIWs) and the mutual capacitance coupling between two SIWs according to the equivalent circuit model. On the basis of filter A, two open-ended microstrip lines are added near the input and output ports (This filter is named by filter B), which will introduce two transmission zeros (TZs) in the lower stopband. The introduced TZs can improve the out-of-band rejection on the lower sideband. The resonant frequencies of the four modes are controlled by the T-shaped slots on the upper metal plate, which can reduce the overall size, significantly. The proposed two filters have compact size of 47.9mm $\mathbf {\times }\,\,14.9$ mm $\mathbf {\times }\,\,2$ mm. The prototypes have been fabricated and measured, and the measured results have a good agreement with the simulated ones.

Chaos in semiconductor lasers or other optical systems has been intensively studied in the past two decades. However, modulation around threshold has received much less attention, in particular, in gain-modulated semiconductor lasers. In this paper, we investigate the bifurcation sequence that appears with pump modulation in the threshold region with a large amplitude and different values of modulation frequency. Modulation around threshold necessarily includes “below-threshold” dynamics, which can be effectively displayed only through a nonlinear visualization of the oscillations. The irregular temporal behavior is examined at various modulation frequencies and amplitudes, highlighting a possible route to chaos for very large amplitude modulation in the near-threshold region. The addition of (average) spontaneous emission to the lasing mode enables a coupled dynamics between photons and carriers even below threshold, thus extending the pump range in which modulation actively modifies the laser behavior. We also report on the existence of a transition between similar attractors characterized by a temporal transient that depends on the amplitude of the modulation driving the pump.

Liver cancer is one of the malignant tumors with the highest fatality rate and increasing incidence, which has no effective treatment plan. Early diagnosis and early treatment of liver cancer play a vital role in prolonging the survival period of patients and improving the cure rate. Carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) are two crucial tumor markers for liver cancer diagnosis. In this work, we firstly proposed a wafer-level, highly controlled silicon nanowire (SiNW) field-effect transistor (FET) joint detection sensor for highly sensitive and selective detection of CEA and AFP. The SiNWs-FET joint detection sensor possesses 4 sensing regions. Each sensing region consists of 120 SiNWs arranged in a 15 × 8 array. The SiNW sensor was developed by using a wafer-level and highly controllable top-down manufacturing technology to achieve the repeatability and controllability of device preparation. To identify and detect CEA/AFP, we modified the corresponding CEA antibodies/AFP antibodies to the sensing region surface after a series of surface modification processes, including O2plasma treatment, soaking in 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES) solution, and soaking in glutaraldehyde (GA) solution. The experimental results showed that the SiNW array sensor has superior sensitivity with a real-time ultralow detection limit of 0.1 fg ml−1(AFP in 0.1× PBS) and 1 fg ml−1(CEA in 0.1× PBS). Also, the logarithms of the concentration of CEA (from 1 fg ml−1to 10 pg ml−1) and AFP (from 0.1 fg ml−1to 100 pg ml−1) achieved conspicuously linear relationships with normalized current changes. The R2of AFP in 0.1× PBS and R2of CEA in 0.1× PBS were 0.99885 and 0.99677, respectively. Furthermore, the sensor could distinguish CEA/AFP from interferents at high concentrations. Importantly, even in serum samples, our sensor could successfully detect CEA/AFP. This demonstrates the promising clinical development of our sensor.

An electrochemical biosensor based on few-layer molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) nanosheets was fabricated for the highly sensitive detection of tumor marker circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) in this paper. The MoS2nanosheets with few layers were prepared by the shear stripping. Compared with the mechanical stripping method and the lithium ion intercalation method, this method is simpler to operate, and the prepared MoS2nanosheets had good electrochemical activity. The biosensing platform was fabricated based on the discriminative affinity of MoS2nanosheets towards single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) and double-stranded DNA (dsDNA). Methylene blue (MB) was used as the signal molecule. The results showed that the detection of ctDNA by this sensor showed an excellent linear relationship in the concentration range of 1.0 × 10−7M to 1.0 × 10−16M, and the detection limit was 2.5 × 10−18M. In addition, this sensor exhibited outstanding stability and specificity. This strategy provides an alternative approach for ctDNA detection and an effective sensing strategy for future in vitrocancer diagnosis by label-free detection.

In this work, we propose and numerically investigate a two-dimensional microlaser based on the concept of bound states in the continuum (BIC). The device consists of a thin gain layer (Rhodamine 6G dye-doped silica) sandwiched between two high-contrast-grating layers. The structure supports various BIC modes upon a proper choice of topological parameters; in particular it supports a high-Qquasi-BIC mode when partially breaking a bound state in the continuum at Γ point. The optically-pumped gain medium provides sufficient optical gain to compensate the quasi-BIC mode losses, enabling lasing with ultra-low pump threshold (fluence of 17 μJ/cm2) and very narrow optical linewidth in the visible range. This innovative device displays distinguished sensing performance for gas detection, and the emission wavelength sensitively shifts to the longer wavelength with the changing of environment refractive index (in order of 5 × 10−4). The achieved bulk sensitivity is 221 nm/RIU with a high signal to noise ratio, and a record-high figure of merit reaches to 4420 RIU−1. This ultracompact and low threshold quasi-BIC laser facilitated by the ultra-narrow resonance can serve as formidable candidate for on-chip gas sensor.

Fusarium graminearumcauses Fusarium head blight (FHB) in wheat, resulting in severe yield losses. Further, it produces mycotoxins, which can have adverse effects on human health. This study aimed to assess the biocontrol efficacy of Metarhizium anisopliaeagainst F. graminearumcausing FHB in wheat. M. anisopliaesignificantly inhibited F. graminearummycelial growth in the dual culture test, resulting in hyphal deformation at the site of its hyphal tips. Similar effects were observed with a 1% concentration of broth filtrates from M. anisopliaeon mycelial growth and hyphal morphology of F. graminearum.However, the same was not observed for its volatiles. Furthermore, a 1% concentration of broth filtrates impeded conidial germination of F. graminearum. The colonisation ability of M. anisopliaeon wheat roots was validated through eGFP-labelled M. anisopliaestrain Ma-eGFP. The positive effects of M. anisopliaeon seedling growth and single-spike weight of wheat were recorded. However, no noticeable effect on the 1000-seed weight of wheat was observed. Results from field experiments revealed that treating wheat seeds with the seed coating agent of M. anisopliaeand spraying wheat heads with M. anisopliaeconidia suspension resulted in a significant control efficacy of 38.6% and 40.1% at the early flowering period of wheat, respectively. These findings suggest that M. anisopliaeis a promising biocontrol agent against F. graminearumcausing FHB in wheat, and may fight against FHB by producing fungistatic secondary metabolites, enhancing wheat growth, and eliciting wheat defence responses.

IMPORTANCE: The ability to predict the efficacy of systemic psoriasis therapy based on immune profiles in skin biopsies could reduce the use of inappropriate treatment and its associated costs and adverse events. It could considerably decrease drug development trial costs as well. OBJECTIVE: To develop a bioinformatic gene signature score derived from skin mRNA to predict psoriasis treatment outcomes for a variety of therapies. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: In this decision analytical model using 1145 skin samples from different cohorts of 12 retrospective psoriasis studies, samples were analyzed using the CIBERSORT algorithm to define the immune landscape of psoriasis lesions and controls. Random forest classification and principal component analysis algorithms were used to estimate psoriatic microenvironment (PME) signature genes and construct a PME score. Overall, 85 and 421 psoriasis lesions from 1 and 4 independent cohorts were used as discovery and validation studies, respectively. Among them, 157, 71, 89, and 90 psoriasis lesions were treated with etanercept, tofacitinib, adalimumab, and methotrexate, respectively. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Number of weeks after treatment initiation when responders and nonresponders could be predicted. RESULTS: Overall, 22 immune cell subtypes formed infiltration patterns that differentiated psoriasis lesions from healthy skin. In psoriasis lesions, the expression of 33 PME signature genes defined 2 immune phenotypes and in aggregate could be simplified to a numerical PME score. A high PME score, characterized by keratinocyte differentiation, correlated with a better treatment response (Psoriasis Area and Severity Index [PASI] reduction, 75.8%; 95% CI, 69.4% to 82.2%; P = .03), whereas a low PME score exhibited an immune activation signature and was associated with a worse response (PASI reduction, 53.5%; 95% CI, 45.3% to 61.7%; P = .03). The PME score at week 4 after treatment initiation correlated with future responder vs nonresponder to treatment status 8 to 12 weeks earlier than PASI reduction for etanercept, methotrexate plus adalimumab, and tofacitinib. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: The PME score is a biometric score that may predict clinical efficacy of systemic psoriasis therapy in advance of clinical responses. As an application of personalized medicine, it may reduce the exposure of patients with psoriasis to ineffective and expensive therapies.

To determine genetic mutational profiles in patients with Ocular Surface Squamous Neoplasia (OSSN) using whole exome sequencing.

Understanding surface and interfacial information, which has a close relationship to the structures and properties of materials, helps guide the design of materials for specific applications. This study focuses on the surface functionalization of montmorillonite (Mt) with chitosan (CTS) and exploring the role of surface properties on its adsorptive performance. Two prototypical products, namely, 180-Htc@Mt and 250-Htc@Mt, were fabricated via the hydrothermal method at 180 and 250 °C, respectively. Field emission scanning electron microscopy revealed that hydrothermal carbon (Htc) derived from CTS anchored on the surface of Mt uniformly with a spherical morphology. The introduction of Htc endowed the surface of Mt with abundant hydroxy, amine, and amide groups; organic carbon; developed porosity; and hydrophobic interfacial property. Hydrothermal temperature has huge impacts on the surface system, and smaller particles (average size of 27 vs 53 nm) with deeper carbonization, higher content of carbonaceous and nitrogenous functional groups, more developed porosity (66.149 vs 39.434 m2/g of specific surface area, 0.115 vs 0.090 cm3/g of pore volume), and slightly decreased hydrophobicity can be readily achieved at a higher temperature. The incoming surface protonated amine and amide functional groups show an ion–dipolar interaction to polar aflatoxin B1(AFB1), and the increased organic carbon content as well as interfacial hydrophobicity generate a hydrophobic interaction to weak polar zearalenone (ZER). Consequently, the surface functionalization affords Mt enhanced adsorption capacity for AFB1, approximately two times compared with Mt, and superior adsorption ability for ZER (10 mg/g). The present work provides sufficient evidence of “surface directs application” of Mt, which encourages researchers to focus on studies of the surface science of clay minerals.

Aims: A flow-control technique by integrating a rotating cylinder onto an airfoil of NACA 4418 is proposed. Methods: Both numerical and experimental studies are performed to investigate its aerodynamic performance. Results: It is found that a rotating cylinder mounted in the 0.45 of chord length on the airfoil gets satisfactory effects in improving the lift of an airfoil. Conclusion: The improvements cover from angles of attack 0°–18°, which provide a wider operation range than that when the rotating cylinder placed in leading edge or trailing edge as proposed by most of the former researches. The study also suggests that the speed ratio is relative to the increase of negative pressure in the upper surface and the protrusion height ratio is relative to the influence area of flow field, which indicates that lift coefficient is increased with the increment of the speed ratio and protrusion height ratio.

The effect of topography on shortwave downward radiation (SWDR) is interest in the geoscience. However, such effects are rarely quantiatively and systematically evalulated, especially over the Tibetan Plateau region. With the geostationaly satellite measurements and topographic radiation model, this study reveals a heightened significance of topography on SWDR with increasing slope. Particularly in abrupt terrain (slopes >15°) the impact becomes pronounced, wherein the topographic radiative forcing (TRF) contributes 9.5% of the annual‐average SWDR. And the ratio of TRF to SWDR reaches a peak during winter, exceeding 150%. In annual‐average scales, the SWDR is 169 ± 38.4 W/m2and the corresponding TRF is 16.2 ± 22.6 W/m2. Seasonal variations manifest on northern and southern slopes, with the sourthern slopes significant in summer, while the northern ones significant in winter. Notably, topographic effects persist across spatial scales and remain evident at 5 km resolution, emphasizing the necessity of considering topography in SWDR product utilization. Shortwave downward radiation is the main source of surface energy. In mountainous areas, the terrain significantly alters the amount of received SWDR. This study comrephensively examines the topographic influence on SWDR across the Tibetan Plateau for the first time. We investigate the influence of diverse topographic factors on the distribution of surface shortwave radiation in mountainous terrains. With the slope increasing, the impact of topography on SWDR becomes more and more significant. The topographic impact of northern and sourthern slopes behaves obvious seasonal variations, with the sourthern slopes significant in summer, while the northern ones significant in winter. With the increasing of spatial scale, the topographic effect gradually decreases and tends to be stable, but it can never disappear. As remote sensing data resolution coarsens, topographic radiative forcing diminishes, but even at 5 km resolution, terrain significantly affects SWDR distribution. In abrupt slopes, the annual‐average proportion of topographic radiative forcing to shortwave downward radiation (SWDR) can reach up to 9.5%The proportion of topographic radiative forcing to SWDR exceeding 150% in winter on the northern slopesDespite decreasing influence with coarser spatial resolutions, topographic effects persist even at 5 km In abrupt slopes, the annual‐average proportion of topographic radiative forcing to shortwave downward radiation (SWDR) can reach up to 9.5% The proportion of topographic radiative forcing to SWDR exceeding 150% in winter on the northern slopes Despite decreasing influence with coarser spatial resolutions, topographic effects persist even at 5 km

Root-knot nematodes (Meloidogynespp.) have garnered significant attention from researchers owing to the substantial damage they cause to crops and their worldwide distribution. However, controlling these nematodes is challenging because a limited number of chemical pesticides and biocontrol agents are effective against them. Here, we demonstrate that pepper rotation markedly reduces Meloidogyne incognitainfection in cucumber and diminishes the presence of p-hydroxybenzoic acid in the soil, a compound known to exacerbate M. incognitainfection. Pepper rotation also restructures the rhizobacterial community, leading to the colonization of the cucumber rhizosphere by two Pseudarthrobacter oxydansstrains (RH60 and RH97), facilitated by enrichment of palmitic acid in pepper root exudates. Both strains exhibit high nematocidal activity against M. incognita and have the ability to biosynthesize indoleacetic acid and biodegrade p-hydroxybenzoic acid. RH60 and RH97 also induce systemic resistance in cucumber plants and promote their growth. These data suggest that the pepper root exudate palmitic acid alleviates M. incognitainfection by recruiting beneficial P. oxydansto the cucumber rhizosphere. Our analyses identify a novel chemical component in root exudates and reveal its pivotal role in crop rotation for disease control, providing intriguing insights into the keystone function of root exudates in plant protection against root-knot nematode infection.

Ion-absorption deposits (IADs) of rare earth elements (REEs) constitute the main economic resources of the essential heavy rare earth elements (HREE). Nonetheless, the existing leaching methods for extracting REEs from IADs face limitations stemming from significant environmental consequences and a poor REE recovery rate. In a recent development, electrokinetic mining (EKM) has emerged as a novel technology for extracting REEs from ion-adsorption deposits, demonstrating the potential for environmentally friendly and efficient recovery of REEs from weathering crusts. However, the transport mechanism of REE in weathering crust soil in an applied electric field remains poorly understood, and the influence of the EKM process has yet to be studied. In this study, we systematically investigated the transport characteristics of REE in weathering crust soil under the influence of an electric field. We demonstrate that the transport of REE is simultaneous with the transport of water, H+, and OH–in the applied electric field, where the EKM process is influenced by the voltage gradient, initial soil water content, electrode numbers, and power-on time. Under the optimal EKM conditions, 78.8% of REE is recovered from a 45 kg-scale weathering crust soil. Additionally, we identify the transport diversity between light REE (LREE) and HREE, which assists in the separation and pre-enrichment of LREE and HREE. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the mechanism for REE transport under an electric field involves a combination of electromigration, electroosmosis, and electrolysis working synergistically. This study provides new perspectives on the transport behavior and mechanism of REEs in weathering crust soil under an electric field. These findings pave the way for the practical implementation of EKM technology.

High dots per inch (DPI) is the core index of inkjet printer, which is hindered by satellite ink droplet. Herein, we propose a novel high-DPI and monodisperse droplet inkjet printhead with the piezoelectric cutter. The as-established model has optimized the inkjet printhead structural parameters, actuating and cutting signal waveforms. The cutter element achieves moving the break-up point to the middle of the ink column, reducing the length of tail and generating a monodisperse droplet. Additionally, the cutter consistently reduces the droplet length with different ink properties including viscosity, density, surface tension, and contact angle, exhibiting high applicability. The research results provide an in-depth study on the design of high-DPI and monodisperse inkjet printheads, offering an efficient approach to improve inkjet printhead performance.

Photons possess spin degree of freedom, which plays an important role in various applications such as optical communications, information processing and sensing. In isotropic media, photon spin is aligned with the propagation direction of light, obeying the principle of spin momentum locking. Interestingly, surface waves decaying away from an interface have a photon spin transverse to its propagation, opening exciting opportunities for the observation of spin-dependent excitation in confined systems. Here, we propose and realize transverse photon spin (T-spin) in a bulk medium, without relying on the presence of any interfaces. We show the mapping of the T-spin of surface modes to that of the bulk modes by introducing bianisotropy into the medium. We further discover that the interface between two bianisotropic media of opposite orientations supports edge-dependent propagating modes with tunable cutoff frequencies. Our results provide a new platform for manipulating the spin–orbit interaction of electromagnetic waves.

A solar-powered unmanned seaplane is proposed as a new strategy to avoid the challenges faced in a long nonstop solar-powered flight, and is especially designed for sea surveillance mission, like resource exploration, environmental monitoring, and observation of animal migration. A preliminary design of the solar-powered unmanned seaplane is carried out while its flight performance is analyzed later. The conceptual design of a twin-tail boom with large aspect ratio wings and buoyancy system is put forward. Aerodynamic loading of the wings is analyzed and determined by computational fluid dynamics. The energy balance models of the proposed seaplane system are created for the periods that the seaplane moors on the sea to harvest solar energy and flies in the sky to perform the mission. The parameter effects, such as wing loading, takeoff time, weight, cruise speed, takeoff ground distance, takeoff ground time, flight envelope, and endurance are discussed. The energy balance models shows that the proposed solar-powered seaplane can perform the sea surveillance mission at an altitude of around 8 km for months and seasons between latitude 60 ° N and 60 ° S.

We investigated the transmission characteristics of Cu/CNT composite Through-silicon via (TSV) interconnects. The equivalent lumped-element circuit model was established, with the effective conductivity employed for impedance extraction. The impacts of CNT filling ratio, temperature, and other geometrical parameters on the performance were examined. The sensitivity analysis of Cu/CNT composite TSVs was carried out. The electrical performance of Cu/CNT composite TSVs were optimized by utilizing low-permittivity dielectrics or even air-gap.

Chitosan (CTS) modified montmorillonite (Mnt) composites (CTS-Mnt), which have been widely reported for the adsorption of heavy-metal ions and biological dyes, have not been applied to the field of mycotoxin adsorption. The current study was focused on the preparation of CTS-Mnt by calcination as a mycotoxin adsorbent for the efficient removal of aflatoxin B1(AFB1). The CTS-Mnt samples obtained were characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and nitrogen adsorption/desorption analysis. The CTS-Mnt samples prepared at various calcination temperatures exhibited varying structural configurations, surface hydrophobicities, and texture properties. The results revealed that stable CTS-Mnt speciments, obtained at <350°C, displayed superior adsorption capacity for AFB1from a simulated gastrointestinal tract, increasing from 0.51 mg/g of raw Mnt to 4.97 mg/g. With increased calcination temperature, the effect of pH on the adsorption process of AFB1becomes negligible. This study demonstrates that the novel CTS-Mnt has tremendous potential as an AFB1adsorbent.

The generation of optical pulses at ultra-low bias level, thus low energy cost, is explored in a commercial microcavity semiconductor laser in view of testing the principle of energy efficient information encoding in potential integrated schemes. Sequences of regular, highly nonlinear pulses with acceptable amplitude stability are obtained from a commercial device as potential sources of bits where the information is added by post-treatment (pulse removal). A discussion on the energy expenditure per bit is offered, together with the optimal frequency for pulse generation, which is found to lie slightly below the above-threshold value declared by the manufacturer.