Electric-Field Control of Perpendicularly Magnetized Ferrimagnetic Order and Giant Magnetoresistance in Multiferroic Heterostructures.

Electrical control of magnetism is highly desirable for energy-efficient spintronic applications. Realizing electric-field-driven perpendicular magnetization switching has been a long-standing goal, which, however, remains a major challenge. Here, electric-field control of perpendicularly magnetized ferrimagnetic order via strain-mediated magnetoelectric coupling is reported. We show that the gate voltages isothermally toggle the dominant magnetic sublattice of the compensated ferrimagnet FeTb at room temperature, showing high reversibility and good endurance under ambient conditions. By implementing this strategy in FeTb/Pt/Co spin valves with giant magnetoresistance (GMR), we demonstrate that the distinct high and low resistance states can be selectively controlled by the gate voltages with assisting magnetic fields. Our results provide a promising route to use ferrimagnets for developing electric-field-controlled, low-power memory and logic devices.

Comparative study on fatigue evaluation of suspenders by introducing actual vehicle trajectory data.

Suspenders play a crucial role in transmitting loads from the bridge deck to the main cable in a suspension bridge. They are susceptible to fatigue due to repeated dynamic loads, particularly traffic loads. Traffic Load Models (TLMs), typically created using Monte-Carlo simulation and Weigh-In-Motion (WIM) data, are employed to evaluate this fatigue. However, these models often overlook practical vehicle trajectories and spatio-temporal distribution, which compromises the precision of fatigue assessments. In this study, we introduce a novel 2D Intelligent Driver Model (2D-IDM) that incorporates actual vehicle trajectories, with a particular focus on transverse vehicle movement. This enhancement aims to improve the fidelity of existing TLMs. To provide a clear, qualitative, and quantitative understanding of the effects of fatigue evaluation with or without actual trajectory characteristics, we have structured this paper as a comparative study. We compare our proposed model, denoted as TLM S-3, with two observation-based models (O-1 and O-2) and two simulation-based models (S-1 and S-2). We conducted an experimental case study on a long-span suspension bridge, where the actual traffic load trajectory was obtained using a WIM-Vision integrated system. To calculate fatigue damage considering both longitudinal and transverse directions, we established a multi-scale Finite Element Model (FEM) using solid element types to simulate the bridge girder. This model can generate the stress influence surface of the bridge and has been verified in both static and dynamic aspects. Our detailed comparative analysis demonstrates the consistency of the proposed 2D-IDM with the actual measured traffic load trajectories. This indicates that our approach can enhance the fidelity and precision of fatigue evaluations for bridge suspenders.

Sonographically Determined Fecal Width: An Objective Indicator of Management of Bladder and Bowel Dysfunction in Children.

OBJECTIVE: To test whether sonographically determined fecal width (SDFW) correlates with symptom improvement in a population of children with bladder and bowel dysfunction (BBD) managed with standard urotherapy (SU), even for those patients lacking initial bowel complaints. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed 200 pediatric BBD patients managed with SU for at least 3 months. Self-reported symptom improvement (complete, partial, no response) following International Children's Continence Society guidelines was tabulated. Patients with complex urologic diagnoses other than vesicoureteral reflux (VUR) were excluded. Pharmacotherapy choice, physical therapy (PT), urinary tract infection (UTI) occurrence, and VUR status were tabulated. SDFW was recorded. Non-parametric analysis of variants (ANOVA) and parametric/non-parametric t testing were used for analysis. RESULTS: Patients had a mean age of 9.5 years (4-12). Forty-eight patients had no gastrointestinal complaints at presentation. Urotherapy yielded complete, partial, and no responses in 14% (n = 27), 33% (n = 67), and 53% (n = 106) of patients, respectively. The average SDFW for those patients with complete response (2.6 cm) was smaller than the SDFW of those with a partial response (3.1 cm) or no response (3.3 cm) (P = .0001). Non-compliance led to greater SDFW compared to compliant patients (3.7 cm and 3.1 cm, respectively, P = .0001). Fecal width was unaffected by VUR, UTI, PT, or pharmacotherapy. CONCLUSION: SDFW correlates well with symptom improvement in pediatric patients managed for BBD, confirming our hypothesis. SDFW is reasonable as single objective parameter to identify successful management in patients with BBD, extending to those without bowel complaints at presentation.