Recently, ferroelectric tunnel junctions (FTJs) have attracted considerable attention for potential applications in next‐generation memories, owing to attractive advantages such as high‐density of ...data storage, nondestructive readout, fast write/read access, and low energy consumption. Herein, recent progress regarding FTJ devices is reviewed with an emphasis on the modulation of the potential barrier. Electronic and ionic approaches that modulate the ferroelectric barriers themselves and/or induce extra barriers in electrodes or at ferroelectric/electrode interfaces are discussed with the enhancement of memory performance. Emerging physics, such as nanoscale ferroelectricity, resonant tunneling, and interfacial metallization, and the applications of FTJs in nonvolatile data storage, neuromorphic synapse emulation, and electromagnetic multistate memory are summarized. Finally, challenges and perspectives of FTJ devices are underlined.
Ferroelectric tunnel junctions are promising candidates for next‐generation nonvolatile memory devices, which exhibit attractive advantages of high‐density of data storage, nondestructive readout, fast write/read access, and low energy consumption. Recent advances in tunneling electroresistance and the emerging physics of ferroelectric tunnel junctions with electronic and ionic modulations on tunneling barrier profiles are discussed and the potential applications are outlined.
Studies of Late Quaternary geological slip-rates and the GPS decadal slip-rates along the major strike-slip faults in the northern margin of the Tibetan Plateau show that slip-rates remain relatively ...constant along the middle sections of each fault and decrease rapidly toward the ends. Our recent studies suggest that the slip rates are low (<10mm/yr) along the major strike-slip faults, i.e., Altyn-Tagh fault and Qilian-Haiyuan fault. West of 95°E, the slip rate on the Altyn-Tagh fault has been determined to be 8–12mm/yr, and gradually decreases from 95°E eastward to about 1–2mm/yr at the easternmost segment of the fault. The slip-rate of Qilian-Haiyuan fault is about 1–2mm/yr near the Halahu Lake, near the western tip of the fault, then increases to a relatively constant value of 4–5mm/yr in the Qilian area (101°E and eastward). Eastward, the fault merges into the NS trending Liupan Shan fault zone east of Haiyuan, and the slip rate drops to 1–3mm/yr, or even lower. Our present observations on the variation and distribution of slip rates along the major strike slip faults indicate that slip on the Altyn-Tagh fault is mainly dissipated through internal deformation, by thrust faulting within the Qilian Shan and shortening within the adjacent Cenozoic basins. Left-lateral strike-slip on the Qilian-Haiyuan fault might be transformed into shortening and growth of the Liupan Shan to the east, and may also contribute partially to the deformation in the western Qilian Shan. In conclusion, the distribution of slip rates from both late Quaternary geological records and the current GPS observations suggest a decrease in slip rate, a redistribution of strain, and the transformation of displacement along the major strike slip faults into crustal shortening, basin formation and mountain uplift that characterize present-day deformation of the northern margin of the Tibetan Plateau.
►Slip rates of faults are jointly determined by geological and geodetic methods. ►Boundary faults of northern Tibet slip at very low rate of less than 10mm/a. ►Sharp tapers of slip rate are found at the ends of these boundary faults. ►Slips on boundary faults are dissipated by thrust faulting and basin shortening. ►Present-day deformation of north Tibet margin is featured by this dissipation.
Demand response (DR) for residential and small commercial buildings is estimated to account for as much as 65% of the total energy savings potential of DR, and previous work shows that a fully ...automated energy management system (EMS) is a necessary prerequisite to DR in these areas. In this paper, we propose a novel EMS formulation for DR problems in these sectors. Specifically, we formulate a fully automated EMS's rescheduling problem as a reinforcement learning (RL) problem, and argue that this RL problem can be approximately solved by decomposing it over device clusters. Compared with existing formulations, our new formulation does not require explicitly modeling the user's dissatisfaction on job rescheduling, enables the EMS to self-initiate jobs, allows the user to initiate more flexible requests, and has a computational complexity linear in the number of device clusters. We also demonstrate the simulation results of applying Q-learning, one of the most popular and classical RL algorithms, to a representative example.
Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a common hepatic disease with an increasing prevalence but an unclear aetiology. This study aimed to investigate the functional implications of ...microRNA-122 (miR-122) in the pathogenesis of NAFLD and the possible molecular mechanisms.
Both in vitro and in vivo models of NAFLD were generated by treating HepG2 and Huh-7 cells with free fatty acids (FFA) and by feeding mice a high-fat diet (HFD), respectively. HE and Oil Red O staining were used to examine liver tissue morphology and lipid deposition, respectively. Immunohistochemical (IHC) staining was used to examine Sirt1 expression in liver tissues. qRT-PCR and Western blotting were employed to measure the expression of miR-122, Sirt1, and proteins involved in lipogenesis and the AMPK pathway. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to quantify triglyceride (TG) levels in HepG2 and Huh-7 cells and in liver tissues. The interaction between miR-122 and the Sirt1 gene was further examined by a dual luciferase reporter assay and RNA-immunoprecipitation (RIP).
NAFLD hepatic tissues and FFA-treated HepG2 and Huh-7 cells presented excess lipid production and TG secretion, accompanied by miR-122 upregulation, Sirt1 downregulation, and potentiated lipogenesis-related genes. miR-122 suppressed Sirt1 expression via binding to its 3'-untranslated region (UTR). Knockdown of miR-122 effectively mitigated excessive lipid production and suppressed the expression of lipogenic genes in FFA-treated HepG2 and Huh-7 cells via upregulating Sirt1. Furthermore, miR-122 knockdown activated the LKB1/AMPK signalling pathway.
The inhibition of miR-122 protects hepatocytes from lipid metabolic disorders such as NAFLD and suppresses lipogenesis via elevating Sirt1 and activating the AMPK pathway. These data support miR-122 as a promising biomarker and drug target for NAFLD.
Asymmetric visible-light photocatalysis has recently drawn considerable attention of the scientific community owing to its unique activation modes and significance for the enantioselective green ...synthesis. In this review, the recent advances in the visible-light-triggered enantioselective synthesis, classified by different catalytic strategies, are summarized. The progress achieved in this area inspires us to develop new strategies, including the combination of photocatalysis with other catalytic modes and the design and synthesis of multifunctional chiral photocatalysts, in an attempt to incorporate chirality into the photo-mediated chemical transformations.
Asymmetric visible-light photocatalysis has recently drawn considerable attention of the scientific community owing to its unique activation modes and significance for the enantioselective green synthesis.
The prognostic role of inflammation index like neutrophil‐to‐lymphocyte ratio (NLR) in colorectal cancer (CRC) remains controversial. We conduct a meta‐analysis to determine the predictable value of ...NLR in the clinical outcome of CRC patients. The analysis was carried out based on the data from 16 studies (19 cohorts) to evaluate the association between NLR and overall survival (OS) and progression‐free survival (PFS) in patients with CRC. In addition, the relationship between NLR and clinicopathological parameters was assessed. Hazard ratio (HR) or odds ratio (OR) with its 95% confidence interval (CI) was used as the effect size estimate. Our analysis results indicated that elevated pretreatment NLR predicted poorer OS (HR: 1.813, 95% CI: 1.499–2.193) and PFS (HR: 2.102, 95% CI: 1.554–2.843) in patients with CRC. Increased NLR is also significantly associated with the poorer differentiation of the tumor (OR: 1.574, 95% CI: 1.226–2.022) and higher carcino‐embryonie antigen (CEA) level (OR: 1.493, 95% CI: 1.308–1.705). By these results, we conclude that NLR gains a prognostic value for patients with CRC. NLR should be monitored in CRC patients for rational stratification of the patients and adjusting the treatment strategy.
What's new?
Although correlated with the severity of disease course, the impact of neutrophil‐to‐lymphocyte ratio (NLR) on survival and tumor characteristics in cancer patients remains unclear. In the meta‐analysis presented here, elevated pre‐treatment NLR was found to predict poor overall survival in patients with colorectal cancer. NLR was also associated with unfavorable biologic behavior in colorectal cancer. The findings suggest that NLR, as an inexpensive and widely available index, should be routinely monitored in colorectal cancer patients.
Summary
Environmental factors, such as temperature, traffic, and wind, play an important role on the variations of dynamic properties of long‐span cable‐stayed bridges. The dynamic characteristics of ...Sutong Cable‐Stayed Bridge (SCB), including acceleration and strain responses as well as modal frequencies, are investigated using one‐year continuous monitoring data under operating conditions by the structural health monitoring system. The in situ wind characteristics and structural temperature behavior of SCB are also analyzed. More than 99% of the wind speed values are smaller than 16 m/s; and the largest temperature variation of the main girder exceeds 60 °C. Besides, acceleration and strain, root mean square (RMS) data are both normalized using the Z‐score standardization method. Relation analysis between the normalized acceleration and strain RMS values is conducted based on the time‐history comparison and linear least square fitting. Results show that both of the processed acceleration and strain RMS values could properly describe the variation trend of the traffic load, although variation amplitudes of the two normalized parameters differ from each other. In addition, one‐year continuous modal frequencies of SCB are identified using Hilbert–Huang transform method. Variability analysis of the structural modal frequencies due to environmental temperature and operational traffics is then conducted. Results show that temperature is the most important environmental factor for vertical and torsional modal frequencies. The traffic load is the second critical factor especially for the fundamental vertical frequency of SCB. Research results could provide references for damage detection and safety evaluation for similar long‐span cable‐stayed bridges.
The arachidonic acid (AA) pathway plays a key role in cardiovascular biology, carcinogenesis, and many inflammatory diseases, such as asthma, arthritis, etc. Esterified AA on the inner surface of the ...cell membrane is hydrolyzed to its free form by phospholipase A2 (PLA2), which is in turn further metabolized by cyclooxygenases (COXs) and lipoxygenases (LOXs) and cytochrome P450 (CYP) enzymes to a spectrum of bioactive mediators that includes prostanoids, leukotrienes (LTs), epoxyeicosatrienoic acids (EETs), dihydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid (diHETEs), eicosatetraenoic acids (ETEs), and lipoxins (LXs). Many of the latter mediators are considered to be novel preventive and therapeutic targets for cardiovascular diseases (CVD), cancers, and inflammatory diseases. This review sets out to summarize the physiological and pathophysiological importance of the AA metabolizing pathways and outline the molecular mechanisms underlying the actions of AA related to its three main metabolic pathways in CVD and cancer progression will provide valuable insight for developing new therapeutic drugs for CVD and anti-cancer agents such as inhibitors of EETs or 2J2. Thus, we herein present a synopsis of AA metabolism in human health, cardiovascular and cancer biology, and the signaling pathways involved in these processes. To explore the role of the AA metabolism and potential therapies, we also introduce the current newly clinical studies targeting AA metabolisms in the different disease conditions.
Chiral boron/nitrogen doped multiple resonance thermally activated delayed fluorescence (MR‐TADF) emitters are promising for highly efficient and color‐pure circularly polarized organic ...light‐emitting diodes (CP‐OLEDs). Herein, we report two pairs of MR‐TADF materials (Czp‐tBuCzB, Czp‐POAB) based on planar chiral paracyclophane with photoluminescence quantum yields of up to 98 %. The enantiomers showed symmetric circularly polarized photoluminescence spectra with dissymmetry factors |gPL| of up to 1.6×10−3 in doped films. Meanwhile, the sky‐blue CP‐OLEDs with (R/S)‐Czp‐tBuCzB showed an external quantum efficiency of 32.1 % with the narrowest full‐width at half‐maximum of 24 nm among the reported CP‐OLEDs, while the devices with (R/S)‐Czp‐POAB displayed the first nearly pure green CP electroluminescence with |gEL| factors at the 10−3 level. These results demonstrate the incorporation of planar chirality into MR‐TADF emitter is a reliable strategy for constructing of efficient CP‐OLEDs.
Two efficient planar chiral multiple resonance thermally activated delayed fluorescent compounds showing narrow emissions and circularly polarized luminescence were prepared. The sky‐blue circularly polarized organic light‐emitting diode exhibited the narrowest emission and high external quantum efficiency of 32.1 %, and the first nearly pure green circularly polarized electroluminescence was realized. Both devices display g factors at 10−3 level.
A highly efficient kinetic resolution of racemic amino alcohols has been achieved for the first time with a chiral tin catalyst. A chiral organotin compound with 3,4,5‐trifluorophenyl groups at the ...3,3′‐positions of the binaphthyl framework enabled this transformation with excellent yield and high enantioselectivity. The process tolerates aryl‐ and alkyl‐substituted amino alcohols and a variety of other substrates, affording the corresponding products in high enantioselectivity and with s factors up to >500.
A valuable structural motif in many biologically active compounds, the vicinal amino alcohol unit can be obtained in optically active form by kinetic resolution of the racemate. A chiral organotin complex catalyzes this reaction, which is thought to proceed via a stannylene N,O‐aminal intermediate.
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