Superelastic conducting fibers with improved properties and functionalities are needed for diverse applications. Here we report the fabrication of highly stretchable (up to 1320%) sheath-core ...conducting fibers created by wrapping carbon nanotube sheets oriented in the fiber direction on stretched rubber fiber cores. The resulting structure exhibited distinct short- and long-period sheath buckling that occurred reversibly out of phase in the axial and belt directions, enabling a resistance change of less than 5% for a 1000% stretch. By including other rubber and carbon nanotube sheath layers, we demonstrated strain sensors generating an 860% capacitance change and electrically powered torsional muscles operating reversibly by a coupled tension-to-torsion actuation mechanism. Using theory, we quantitatively explain the complementary effects of an increase in muscle length and a large positive Poisson's ratio on torsional actuation and electronic properties.
To explore the characteristics of Helicobacter pylori resistance in China and the association between antibiotic resistance and several clinical factors.
H. pylori strains were collected from ...patients in 13 provinces or cities in China between 2010 and 2016. Demographic data including type of disease, geographic area, age, gender and isolation year were collected to analyse their association with antibiotic resistance. Antibiotic resistance was detected using the Etest test and the Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion method.
H. pylori were successfully cultured from 1117 patients. The prevalence of metronidazole, clarithromycin (CLA), azithromycin, levofloxacin (LEV), moxifloxacin, amoxicillin (AMO), tetracycline and rifampicin resistance was 78.2, 22.1, 23.3, 19.2, 17.2, 3.4, 1.9 and 1.5%, respectively. No resistance to furazolidone was observed. The resistance rates to LEV and moxifloxacin were higher in strains isolated from patients with gastritis compared to those with duodenal ulcer and among women. Compared to patients ≥40 years old, younger patients exhibited lower resistance rates to CLA, azithromycin, LEV and moxifloxacin. The resistance rates to CLA and AMO were higher in strains isolated more recently, and we also found that the prevalence of resistance to metronidazole, CLA, azithromycin and AMO were significantly different among different regions of China.
The resistance rates to metronidazole, CLA and LEV were high in China. Patient age, gender, disease and location were associated with the resistance of H. pylori to some antibiotics. Furazolidone, AMO and tetracycline are better choices for H. pylori treatment in China.
Organic-inorganic lead halide quasi-two-dimensional (2D) perovskites are promising gain media for lasing applications because of their low cost, tunable colour, excellent stability and solution ...processability
. Optically pumped continuous-wave (CW) lasing is highly desired for practical applications in high-density integrated optoelectronics devices and constitutes a key step towards electrically pumped lasers
. However, CW lasing has not yet been realized at room temperature because of the 'lasing death' phenomenon (the abrupt termination of lasing under CW optical pumping), the cause of which remains unknown. Here we study lead halide-based quasi-2D perovskite films with different organic cations and observe that long-lived triplet excitons considerably impede population inversion during amplified spontaneous emission and optically pumped pulsed and CW lasing. Our results indicate that singlet-triplet exciton annihilation is a possible intrinsic mechanism causing lasing death. By using a distributed-feedback cavity with a high quality factor and applying triplet management strategies, we achieve stable green quasi-2D perovskite lasers under CW optical pumping in air at room temperature. We expect that our findings will pave the way to the realization of future current-injection perovskite lasers.
In January 2013, Beijing experienced several serious haze events. To achieve a better understanding of the characteristics, sources and processes of aerosols during this month, an Aerodyne ...high-resolution time-of-flight aerosol mass spectrometer (HR-ToF-AMS) was deployed at an urban site between 1 January and 1 February 2013 to obtain the size-resolved chemical composition of non-refractory submicron particles (NR-PM1). During this period, the mean measured NR-PM1 mass concentration was 89.3 ± 85.6 μg m−3, and it peaked at 423 μg m−3. Positive matrix factorization (PMF) differentiated the organic aerosol into five components, including a highly oxidized, low-volatility oxygenated organic aerosol (LV-OOA), a less oxidized, semi-volatile oxygenated OA (SV-OOA), a coal combustion OA (CCOA), a cooking-related OA (COA), and a hydrocarbon-like OA (HOA), which on average accounted for 28%, 26%, 15%, 20% and 11% of the total organic mass, respectively. A detailed comparison between the polluted days and unpolluted days found many interesting results. First, the organic fraction was the most important NR-PM1 species during the unpolluted days (58%), while inorganic species were dominant on polluted days (59%). The OA composition also experienced a significant change; it was dominated by primary OA (POA), including COA, HOA and CCOA, on unpolluted days. The contribution of secondary OA (SOA) increased from 35% to 63% between unpolluted and polluted days. Second, meteorological effects played an important role in the heavy pollution in this month and differed significantly between the two types of days. The temperature and relative humidity (RH) were all increased on polluted days and the wind speed and air pressure were decreased. Third, the diurnal variation trend in NR-PM1 species and OA components showed some differences between the two types of days, and the OA was more highly oxidized on polluted days. Fourth, the effects of air masses were significantly different between the two types of days; air was mainly transported from contaminated areas on the polluted days. The comparison also found that the aerosol was more acidic on polluted days. Additionally, the variation trends of the mass concentration and mass fractions of NR-PM1 species and OA components were more dramatic when the NR-PM1 mass loading was at a higher level. The serious pollution observed in this month can be attributed to the synergy of unfavorable meteorological factors, the transport of air masses from high-pollution areas, emission by local sources, and other factors.
The present work investigates the influence of Mn on the electrochemical corrosion and passivation behaviors of CoFeNiMnCr high-entropy alloys in a 0.1 M H2SO4 solution. Potentiodynamic polarization ...and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) results showed that the addition of Mn caused a marked difference in the active dissolution regions and active-passive transition regions. It was deduced from EIS and the potential decay results that the alloyed Mn suppressed the passivation processes and increased the chemical dissolution rate of the passive films. By contrast, the alloyed Mn did not affect the protective properties of the passive films of the alloys. Surface analysis indicated that Mn addition had little influence on the composition and thickness of the passive films. Thus the passivation current densities and transpassive potentials of the CoFeNiMnCr high-entropy alloy remained almost unchanged with the addition of Mn.
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•The addition of Mn degrades general corrosion resistance of CoFeNiMnCr high entropy alloys.•The detrimental effects of Mn were caused by suppression of adsorption of oxygen or OH− and degrade the film stability.•The alloyed Mn does not affect the protective properties of passive film.
AbstractInternal erosion involves selective loss of fine particles within the matrix of coarse soil particles under seepage flow, which affects the hydraulic and mechanical behavior of the soil. In ...this research, extensive laboratory internal erosion tests were conducted under complex stress states following three stress paths: isotropic, drained triaxial compression, and triaxial extension stress paths. These tests were designed to investigate the initiation and development of internal erosion and the effect of stress state on critical hydraulic gradients. The entire erosion process can be divided into four phases: stable, initiation, development, and failure. Accordingly, three critical gradients termed as initiation, skeleton-deformation, and failure hydraulic gradients, can be defined. These critical gradients correspond to the onset of erosion of the fine particles filling the large pores of the skeleton, the buckling of the strong force chains formed by the coarse particles, and the soil failure, respectively. The initiation gradient under compression stress conditions generally increases with the shear stress ratio first and then decreases when the stress conditions approach failure. The tests under isotropic stress conditions show the largest initiation and skeleton-deformation gradients at the same porosity.
Tumor-derived extracellular vesicles (EVs) are active contributors in metastasis and immunosuppression in tumor microenvironment. At least some of the EVs carry tumor surface molecules such as ...tumor-associated antigens (TAAs) and/or checkpoint inhibitors, and potentially could interact with T cells or CAR T cells. Upon contact with T cells, EVs could alter their phenotype and functions by triggering signaling through TCR or CAR reprogramming them to escape immune response. We hypothesize that EVs that possess TAA on the surface will probably interact with CAR T cells which can recognize and bind corresponding TAA. This interaction between EVs and CAR T cells may change the outcome of CAR T-based cancer immunotherapy since it should affect CAR T cells. Also, EVs could serve as adjuvants and antigenic components of antitumor vaccines. Herein, we isolated EVs from B cell precursor leukemia cell line (pre-B ALL) Nalm-6 and demonstrated that recognition and binding of CD19
EVs with CD19-CAR T cells strongly depends on the presence of CD19 antigen. CD19
EVs induce secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-2 and IFN-y) and upregulated transcription of activation-related genes (IFNG, IFNGR1, FASLG, IL2) in CD19-CAR T cells. Tumor necrosis factor receptor superfamily (TNFRSF4 and TNFRSF9) and T-cell exhaustion markers (CTLA4, LAG3, TIM3 and PDCD1LG2) were also upregulated in CD19-CAR T cells after incubation with CD19
EVs. Long-term cultivation of CD19
or PD-L1
EVs with CD19-CAR T cells led to increased terminal differentiation and functional exhaustion according to elevated expression of PD-1, TIGIT, CD57. In summary, our results suggest that chronic exposure of CD19-CAR T cells to CD19
EVs mediates activation and systemic exhaustion in antigen-specific manner, and this negative effect is accompanied by the impaired cytotoxic activity in vitro.
We theoretically predict and experimentally demonstrate a nonthermal pathway to optically enhance superexchange interaction energies in a material based on exciting ligand-to-metal charge-transfer ...transitions, which introduces lower-order virtual hopping contributions that are absent in the ground state. We demonstrate this effect in the layered ferromagnetic insulator CrSiTe 3 by exciting Te-to-Cr charge-transfer transitions using ultrashort laser pulses and detecting coherent phonon oscillations that are impulsively generated by superexchange enhancement via magneto-elastic coupling. This mechanism kicks in below the temperature scale where short-range in-plane spin correlations begin to develop and disappears when the excitation energy is tuned away from the charge-transfer resonance, consistent with our predictions.
For centuries, the scientific discovery process has been based on systematic human observation and analysis of natural phenomena
. Today, however, automated instrumentation and large-scale data ...acquisition are generating datasets of such large volume and complexity as to defy conventional scientific methodology. Radically different scientific approaches are needed, and machine learning (ML) shows great promise for research fields such as materials science
. Given the success of ML in the analysis of synthetic data representing electronic quantum matter (EQM)
, the next challenge is to apply this approach to experimental data-for example, to the arrays of complex electronic-structure images
obtained from atomic-scale visualization of EQM. Here we report the development and training of a suite of artificial neural networks (ANNs) designed to recognize different types of order hidden in such EQM image arrays. These ANNs are used to analyse an archive of experimentally derived EQM image arrays from carrier-doped copper oxide Mott insulators. In these noisy and complex data, the ANNs discover the existence of a lattice-commensurate, four-unit-cell periodic, translational-symmetry-breaking EQM state. Further, the ANNs determine that this state is unidirectional, revealing a coincident nematic EQM state. Strong-coupling theories of electronic liquid crystals
are consistent with these observations.
A numerical model is developed to study the wave propagation in the presence of a steady current flow. This model is based on Reynolds-Averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) equations with k−ε turbulence ...closure scheme. A novel volume of fluid (VOF) method is applied to accurately capture the water free surface. The current flow is initialized by imposing a steady inlet velocity on one domain end and pressure outlet on the other end, while the desired wave is generated by an internal wave-maker from mass source term of mass conservation equation. Simulated water surface profile and velocity distribution agree well with experimental measurements of Umeyama (2011), indicating that this model has a great ability in simulating wave–current interaction. The validated model is then used to investigate the effects of wave period and current velocity on regular wave–current induced water surface profile and velocity distribution. The propagation of a solitary wave traveling with a following/opposing current is also numerically investigated by this model.
•A numerical model for the interactions between ocean waves and currents.•An increase of a following current velocity significantly prolongs the wave length.•Waves with a shorter period have more intensive interaction with the ambient current.
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