The coexistence of gate-tunable superconducting, magnetic and topological orders in magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene provides opportunities for the creation of hybrid Josephson junctions. Here we ...report the fabrication of gate-defined symmetry-broken Josephson junctions in magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene, where the weak link is gate-tuned close to the correlated insulator state with a moiré filling factor of υ = -2. We observe a phase-shifted and asymmetric Fraunhofer pattern with a pronounced magnetic hysteresis. Our theoretical calculations of the junction weak link-with valley polarization and orbital magnetization-explain most of these unconventional features. The effects persist up to the critical temperature of 3.5 K, with magnetic hysteresis observed below 800 mK. We show how the combination of magnetization and its current-induced magnetization switching allows us to realise a programmable zero-field superconducting diode. Our results represent a major advance towards the creation of future superconducting quantum electronic devices.
Akkermansia muciniphila, a common colonizer in the intestinal mucus layer of humans, has gradually been considered as promising candidate for the next‐generation probiotic, given its physiological ...benefits from animal and human studies. This article comprehensively reviewed A. muciniphila from the published peer‐reviewed articles in the aspects of its role in the host physiology and commonly consumed food that can boost its abundance, which should provide useful and fundamental information for scientists and engineers and even ordinary consumers. Akkermansia muciniphila is not only a crucial biomarker that indicates the physiology of human beings but also has huge potential to become a probiotic given its physiological benefits in various clinical scenarios. Current barriers in terms of regulations, necessity for large‐scale clinical experiments and production feasibility need to be resolved before A. muciniphila can be widely applied as the next‐generation probiotic.
Method of moments (MoMs) solution of the electric and magnetic current combined-field integral equation (JMCFIE) for penetrable objects generally resorts to iterative solvers, which suffer from the ...problems of convergence rate and redundant computation for multiple right-hand-sides (RHSs). In this communication, an efficient direct solver based on the hierarchical (<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">\mathcal {H} </tex-math></inline-formula>-) matrix technique is presented to solve these problems. <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">\mathcal {H} </tex-math></inline-formula>-matrix formatted algorithms provide an efficient way to factorize the impedance matrix with low computational costs, which make the direct solution feasible. Examples of electromagnetic scattering from a dielectric object and optical scattering from a plasmonic nanostructure are shown to demonstrate the efficiency and accuracy of the proposed method.
This paper presents an improved algorithm for the bi-directional evolutionary structural optimization (BESO) method for topology optimization problems. The elemental sensitivity numbers are ...calculated from finite element analysis and then converted to the nodal sensitivity numbers in the design domain. A mesh-independency filter using nodal variables is introduced to determine the addition of elements and eliminate unnecessary structural details below a certain length scale in the design. To further enhance the convergence of the optimization process, the accuracy of elemental sensitivity numbers is improved by its historical information. The new approach is demonstrated by solving several compliance minimization problems and compared with the solid isotropic material with penalization (SIMP) method. Results show the effectiveness of the new BESO method in obtaining convergent and mesh-independent solutions.
Follicular helper T (Tfh) cells are necessary for germinal center (GC) formation and within the GC, provide key signals to B cells for their differentiation into plasmablasts and plasma cells that ...secrete high-affinity and isotype-switched antibody (Ab). A specialized subset of Foxp3
T cells termed T follicular regulatory (Tfr) cells, also regulate the differentiation of Ab-secreting cells from the GC. Tfr-cell function in the GC is not well understood, however, the dominant paradigm currently is that Tfr cells repress excessive Tfh and GC B cell proliferation and help promote stringent selection of high-affinity B cells. A mouse model where the Bcl6 gene is specifically deleted in Foxp3
T cells (Bcl6FC mice) allows the study of Tfr cell function with more precision than other approaches. Studies with this model have shown that Tfr cells play a key role in maintaining GC B cell proliferation and Ab levels. Part of the mechanism for this positive "helper" effect of Tfr cells on the GC is Tfr cell-derived IL-10, which can promote B cell growth and entry into the dark zone of the GC. Recent studies on Tfr cells support a new paradigm for Tfr cell function in the GC reaction. Here, we review studies on Tfr cell functions and discuss the evidence that Tfr cells can have a major helper role in the GC-dependent Ab response.
Ferroptosis is an iron-dependent form of non-apoptotic cell death, but its molecular mechanism remains largely unknown. Here, we demonstrate that heat shock protein beta-1 (HSPB1) is a negative ...regulator of ferroptotic cancer cell death. Erastin, a specific ferroptosis-inducing compound, stimulates heat shock factor 1 (HSF1)-dependent HSPB1 expression in cancer cells. Knockdown of HSF1 and HSPB1 enhances erastin-induced ferroptosis, whereas heat shock pretreatment and overexpression of HSPB1 inhibits erastin-induced ferroptosis. Protein kinase C-mediated HSPB1 phosphorylation confers protection against ferroptosis by reducing iron-mediated production of lipid reactive oxygen species. Moreover, inhibition of the HSF1-HSPB1 pathway and HSPB1 phosphorylation increases the anticancer activity of erastin in human xenograft mouse tumor models. Our findings reveal an essential role for HSPB1 in iron metabolism with important effects on ferroptosis-mediated cancer therapy.
Design of functionally graded material (FGM), in which the mechanical property varies along one direction, is the focus of this study. It is assumed that the microstructure of the FGM is composed of ...a series of base cells in the variation direction and self-repeated in other directions. Bi-directional evolutionary structural optimization technique in the form of inverse homogenization is used for the design of the FGM for specified variation in bulk or shear modulus. Instead of designing a series of base cells simultaneously, the base cells are optimized progressively by considering three base cells at each stage. Thus, the proper connections between adjacent base cells can be achieved with high computational efficiency. Numerical examples demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method for designing microstructures of 2D and 3D FGMs with specified variation in bulk or shear modulus. The proposed algorithm can also be easily extended to design FGMs with other functional properties.
► A new approach to designing periodic microstructures of cellular materials. ► Cellular materials with maximum bulk or shear modulus. ► Some interesting topological patterns have been found.
This ...paper presents a new approach to designing periodic microstructures of cellular materials. The method is based on the bidirectional evolutionary structural optimization (BESO) technique. The optimization problem is formulated as finding a micro-structural topology with the maximum bulk or shear modulus under a prescribed volume constraint. Using the homogenization theory and finite element analysis within a periodic base cell (PBC), elemental sensitivity numbers are established for gradually removing and adding elements in PBC. Numerical examples in 2D and 3D demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method for achieving convergent microstructures of cellular materials with maximum bulk or shear modulus. Some interesting topological patterns have been found for guiding the cellular material design.
Properties of atomic van der Waals heterostructures are profoundly influenced by interlayer coupling, which critically depends on stacking of the proximal layers. Rotational misalignment or lattice ...mismatch of the layers gives rise to a periodic modulation of the stacking, the moiré superlattice. Provided the superlattice period extends over many unit cells, the coupled layers undergo lattice relaxation, leading to the concentration of strain at line defects - solitons - separating large area commensurate domains. We visualize such long-range periodic superstructures in thin crystals of hexagonal boron nitride using atomic-force microscopy and nano-infrared spectroscopy. The solitons form sub-surface hexagonal networks with periods of a few hundred nanometers. We analyze the topography and infrared contrast of these networks to obtain spatial distribution of local strain and its effect on the infrared-active phonons of hBN.
In this paper we describe the OpenGeoSys (OGS) project, which is a scientific open-source initiative for numerical simulation of thermo-hydro-mechanical-chemical processes in porous media. The basic ...concept is to provide a flexible numerical framework (using primarily the Finite Element Method (FEM)) for solving multifield problems in porous and fractured media for applications in geoscience and hydrology. To this purpose OGS is based on an object-oriented FEM concept including a broad spectrum of interfaces for pre- and postprocessing. The OGS idea has been in development since the mid-eighties. We provide a short historical note about the continuous process of concept and software development having evolved through Fortran, C, and C++ implementations. The idea behind OGS is to provide an open platform to the community, outfitted with professional software-engineering tools such as platform-independent compiling and automated benchmarking. A comprehensive benchmarking book has been prepared for publication. Benchmarking has been proven to be a valuable tool for cooperation between different developer teams, for example, for code comparison and validation purposes (DEVOVALEX and CO
2
BENCH projects). On one hand, object-orientation (OO) provides a suitable framework for distributed code development; however, the parallelization of OO codes still lacks efficiency. High-performance-computing efficiency of OO codes is subject to future research.
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