Beyond the wave manipulation at a single frequency, efficiency bandwidth control and functional dispersion engineering over metasurfaces are key challenges towards practical applications. Here we ...propose a type of wideband dielectric metasurfaces made of ultra-thin and layered high-index dielectric patches. The inclusions can be considered as effective material with designable effective refractive index and dispersion. Beam-deflection metasurfaces composed of such inclusions are characterized with the bandwidth approaching and surpassing the limit of conventional blazed gratings in transmission and reflection manners. The bandwidths are more than twice of that in popular single-layer dielectric metasurfaces made of pillar and disk building blocks. In addition, the proposed design benefits from operation over wide range of incident angles and with large tolerance to fabrication errors. More complicated beam manipulation can be fulfilled similarly with great potential for wideband planar optics.
Astaxanthin production is often plagued by biological contaminants during the outdoor culture of Haematococcus pluvialis. The contaminants may even lead to the failure of the whole cultivation. To ...reduce the contaminants during outdoor culture and ensure the stability of large-scale astaxanthin production, the disinfection strategies using sodium hypochlorite in outdoor closed horizontal tube photobioreactor (HTPBR) were studied. The effective concentration of sodium hypochlorite for disinfection was 80 mg·L−1 by comparing the tolerances of various kinds of biological contaminants to sodium hypochlorite. Moreover, a degradation model of sodium hypochlorite was established to quantify the concentration of residual sodium hypochlorite in HTPBR. The predicted value of this model was close to the measured value, the maximum deviation was 4.88 mg·L−1, and the average deviation was 1.97 mg·L−1. In order to avoid adverse effects on astaxanthin accumulation, the residual sodium hypochlorite or sodium thiosulfate after disinfection should be controlled below 0.1 mg·L−1and 10 mg·L−1, respectively. By comparing the multiple disinfection effects on outdoor HTPBRs, a low level of the total bacterial count was observed in HTPBR with double disinfection. By optimizing the disinfection strategy, the biological contaminants were reduced, and the volume content of astaxanthin was 2.37 times that of the unoptimized disinfection strategy. This study indicated that the astaxanthin yield can be improved by reducing the biological contaminants during the culture of H. pluvialis. The information will be a foundation for the disinfection strategy of other microalgae cultivation reactors.
•Disinfection strategy for large outdoor HTPBR was systematic studied.•The strategy was beneficial to astaxanthin production by H. pluvialis.•A degradation model of sodium hypochlorite in outdoor HTPBR was established.•The model was used to optimize the disinfection strategy of outdoor HTPBR.
Abstract Background 15-F2t -isoprostane (15-F2t -IsoP), a prostaglandin F2 -like compound, is widely recognized as a biomarker of chronic heart failure. This study investigated the potential role and ...prognostic significance of plasma 15-F2t -IsoP in patients with idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension (IPAH). Methods Plasma 15-F2t -IsoP concentrations were determined in 80 consecutive IPAH patients at the time of their first right heart catheterization, and monitored for 30 ± 12 months. The expression of 15-F2t -IsoP protein in autopsy lung samples was determined by immunohistochemical staining. Results Plasma 15-F2t -IsoP concentrations were significantly increased in patients with IPAH compared with healthy controls (91 pg/ml vs. 30 pg/ml, respectively; P < 0.001). Patients with baseline 15-F2t -IsoP concentrations ≥ 97 pg/ml had a significantly lower survival rate than those with lower baseline concentrations ( P < 0.001). During follow-up, 15-F2t -IsoP concentrations in survivors decreased, whereas concentrations in non-surviving patients increased further ( P < 0.05). Elevated concentrations of 15-F2t -IsoP were correlated with a severity of WHO functional class, lower 6-minute walking distance and mixed venous oxygen saturation, higher mean right atrial pressure and brain natriuretic peptide. Multivariate analysis revealed that the plasma 15-F2t -IsoP concentration was an independent factor associated with mortality. Histological studies showed that the expression of 15-F2t -IsoP was up-regulated in remodeled pulmonary vessels. Conclusions An elevated plasma 15-F2t -IsoP concentration and a further increase during follow-up may be a risk factor for higher mortality in patients with IPAH.
Weak measurement has enabled fundamental studies in both experiment and theory of quantum measurement. Numerous researches have indicated that weak measurements have a wide range of application and ...scientific research value. In our work, we used bibliometric methods to evaluate the global scientific output of research on Weak measurement and explore the current status and trends in this field from 2000 to 2020. The R bibliometric package was used for quantitative and qualitative analyses of publication outputs and author contributions. In total, 636 related articles and reviews were included in the final analysis. The main results were as follows: The number of publications has increased substantially with time. Physical Review A was the most active journal. The country and institution contributing the most to this field were The United States and University Rochester respectively. The analysis of the conceptual structure of keywords indicated that weak measurements were involved a variety of metrology, quantum communication, and nonclassical features of quantum mechanics. Our bibliometric analysis shows that weak measurement research continues to be a hot-spot. The focus has evolved to study quantum information and amplify weak signals.
The costal cartilage is widely used in rhinoplasty. Although different surgical methods of costal cartilage harvest have been developed, few studies have reported the method of costal cartilage ...harvest for patients after breast augmentation. This study aims to provide our experience of costal cartilage harvest through a small incision approach.
A retrospective review was performed for patients undergoing esthetic rhinoplasty with costal cartilage after breast augmentation between May 2019 and May 2021. Postoperative pain was evaluated with the Visual Analog Scale, and the scars at the donor site were assessed 1 year postoperatively with the Modified Vancouver Scar Scale.
A total of 23 female patients were included. The average follow-up time was 21.4 months. No complications of massive bleeding, pleural injury, or breast implant injury during the surgery, wound dehiscence, or wound infection in the harvested site were observed. No patients complained of changes in breast morphology or breast asymmetry after costal cartilage harvest. Results of Visual Analog Scale for donor-site pain indicated pain in donor-site peaked at 12 hours after surgery and gradually decreased. All patients were satisfied with the scarring of the donor sites after surgery.
The better scar performance, low complication rates, and high satisfaction among patients suggest that this is a safe technique to harvest costal cartilage with a small incision in rhinoplasty for patients after breast augmentation.
Numerous old deposits occur in the Eastern Himalayan Syntaxis, especially on the banks of the Yarlung Tsangpo River and its tributaries, where strong tectonic movement and riverine erosion increase ...the potential for landslides. The possible future deformation and failure processes of these old deposits and their impacts on the surrounding environment are important research topics. Field investigations and temporarily coherent point interferometry synthetic aperture radar (TCP-InSAR) monitoring show that the Tongmai old deposit is prone to catastrophic failure and landsliding. A geomorphological analysis and the related dating results indicate that the Tongmai old deposit consists of residual colluvial or early moraine debris and was formed later than 11.06 ± 0.94 ka BP. The TCP-InSAR analysis indicates that creep deformation is present within the deposit and that this creep is closely related to the precipitation and activity of nearby faults, which may cause slope failure and lead to landslide dam formation. As a result, this study further predicts the likely scale of a landslide dam through numerical simulations. In the worst-case scenario, a landslide will seriously block the Parlung Tsangpo River and form a dam with a height of 100–152 m and a length of approximately 2.4 km. The Tongmai old deposit will likely form a geohazard chain including landslides, barrier lakes, and outburst flooding. Finally, this paper discusses the influence of the Tongmai old deposit on river and landscape evolution.
•The formation of the Tongmai old deposit (TMOD) covered or destroyed the river terraces on the left bank.•Results of TCP-InSAR analysis indicated that the main part of the TMOD is showing a trend of subsidence.•The influence of the TMOD failure along the proposed Sichuan-Tibet railway is predicted by numerical simulation method.•A possible evolution sequence of geological hazards is proposed.
High-index dielectric metasurfaces are rarely reported around 0.1-0.3 THz, as an extremely large etching depth is needed according to the millimeter-scale wavelength. In this work, we propose an easy ...solution to sub-THz wideband polarization control by utilizing 3D-printed low-index (n~1.5) metagratings. The metagrating with subwavelength lattice is shown as a very efficient half-wave plate (net polarization conversion of 87%) at 0.14 THz but showing noisy spectrum. The design with superwavelength lattice offers a smooth and wide bandwidth for linear polarization rotation. Study of the mechanism shows that the lattice size slightly above wavelength is a better choice for the low-index metadevice as it maintains high efficiency in the zero diffraction order and wide bandwidth due to the small mode dispersion. Such designs offer a feasible solution especially suitable for sub-THz polarization and phase control, complementary to the existing high-index dielectric and metallic metasurfaces.
Bone age assessment (BAA) is a crucial task in clinical, forensic, and athletic fields. Since traditional age estimation methods are suffered from potential radiation damage, this study aimed to ...develop and evaluate a deep learning radiomics method based on multiparametric knee MRI for noninvasive and automatic BAA. This retrospective study enrolled 598 patients (age range,10.00–29.99 years) who underwent MR examinations of the knee joint (T1/T2*/PD-weighted imaging). Three-dimensional convolutional neural networks (3D CNNs) were trained to extract and fuse multimodal and multiscale MRI radiomic features for age estimation and compared to traditional machine learning models based on hand-crafted features. The age estimation error was greater in individuals aged 25–30 years; thus, this method may not be suitable for individuals over 25 years old. In the test set aged 10–25 years (
n
= 95), the 3D CNN (a fusion of T1WI, T2*WI, and PDWI) demonstrated the lowest mean absolute error of 1.32 ± 1.01 years, which is higher than that of other MRI modalities and the hand-crafted models. In the classification for 12-, 14-, 16-, and 18- year thresholds, accuracies and the areas under the ROC curves were all over 0.91 and 0.96, which is similar to the manual methods. Visualization of important features showed that 3D CNN estimated age by focusing on the epiphyseal plates. The deep learning radiomics method enables non-invasive and automated BAA from multimodal knee MR images. The use of 3D CNN and MRI-based radiomics has the potential to assist radiologists or medicolegists in age estimation.
In 2018, the order
Mononegavirales
was expanded by inclusion of 1 new genus and 12 novel species. This article presents the updated taxonomy of the order
Mononegavirales
as now accepted by the ...International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) and summarizes additional taxonomic proposals that may affect the order in the near future.
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