Search

Strangeness production has been suggested to be a sensitive probe to the early-time dynamics of the nuclear matter created in heavy-ion collisions. Transverse momentum distributions and yields of strange hadrons provide important information on their production mechanisms and can help us probe the properties of the created medium and its evolution. Thanks to the high statistics data taken during the STAR BES-II program in 2018-2021, a series of measurements on the properties of strangeness production at low energies are carried out. In these proceedings, the production of K−, KS0KS0, ϕ, Λ, and Ξ− in Au+Au collisions at √SNN = 3sNN=3 GeV are presented. The strange hadron transverse momentum spectra, rapidity density distributions, and particle ratios are shown. These results are compared with UrQMD model calculations, and the extracted kinetic freeze-out parameters are discussed and compared with the ones from higher collision energies.

Rechargeable Na‐CO2 batteries are considered to be an effective way to address the energy crisis and greenhouse effect due to their dual functions of CO2 fixation/utilization and energy storage. However, the insolubility and irreversibility of solid discharge products lead to poor discharge capacity and poor cycle performance. Herein, a novel strategy is proposed to enhance the electrochemical performance of hybrid Na‐CO2 batteries, using water‐in‐salt electrolyte (WiSE) to establish an optimal reaction environment, regulate the CO2 reduction pathway, and ultimately convert the discharge product of the battery from Na2CO3 to formic acid (HCOOH). This strategy effectively resolves the issue of poor reversibility, allowing the battery to exhibit excellent cycle performance (over 1200 cycles at 30 °C), especially under low‐temperature conditions (2534 cycles at −20 °C). Furthermore, density functional theory (DFT) calculations and experiments indicate that by adjusting the relative concentration of H/O atoms at the electrolyte/catalyst interface, the CO2 reduction pathway in the battery can be regulated, thus effectively enhancing CO2 capture capability and consequently achieving an ultra‐high discharge specific capacity of 148.1 mAh cm−2. This work effectively promotes the practical application of hybrid Na‐CO2 batteries and shall provide a guidance for converting CO2 into products with high‐value‐added chemicals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Computer graphics images (CGIs) are artificially generated by means of computer programs and are widely perceived under various scenarios, such as games, streaming media, etc. In practice, the quality of CGIs consistently suffers from poor rendering during production, inevitable compression artifacts during the transmission of multimedia applications, and low aesthetic quality resulting from poor composition and design. However, few works have been dedicated to dealing with the challenge of computer graphics image quality assessment (CGIQA). Most image quality assessment (IQA) metrics are developed for natural scene images (NSIs) and validated on databases consisting of NSIs with synthetic distortions, which are not suitable for in-the-wild CGIs. To bridge the gap between evaluating the quality of NSIs and CGIs, we construct a large-scale in-the-wild CGIQA database consisting of 6,000 CGIs (CGIQA-6k) and carry out the subjective experiment in a well-controlled laboratory environment to obtain the accurate perceptual ratings of the CGIs. Then, we propose an effective deep learning–based no-reference (NR) IQA model by utilizing both distortion and aesthetic quality representation. Experimental results show that the proposed method outperforms all other state-of-the-art NR IQA methods on the constructed CGIQA-6k database and other CGIQA-related databases. The database is released at https://github.com/zzc-1998/CGIQA6K. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Liquid crystal superstructures or metasurfaces based on Pancharatnam−Berry (PB) phase have made remarkable progress in all‐optical image processing due to the advantages of miniaturization, integration, and multi‐dimensional light field modulation. However, conventional static PB phase devices are usually not tunable and with a single function. Here, based on the tunability of the moiré effect, the wavelength‐independent effect of the PB phase, and the principle of retardation compensation, an ultra‐broadband multifunction moiré‐PB doublet lens is designed, which can realize optical edge imaging with a tunable resolution ranging from 13.2 to 57.2 µm and ultra‐broadband conventional and polarimetric imaging to meet the requirement of multiple functionalities and system integration. In addition, edge feature extraction or edge imaging of low‐contrast biological samples is also realized. Benefiting from the characteristics of miniaturization, switchable multiple imaging functions, and real‐time parallel processing, this method may expand the practicability of modern optical image processing, microscopic imaging, and biomedicine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]