Evidence for electron-hole crystals in a Mott insulator.

The coexistence of correlated electron and hole crystals enables the realization of quantum excitonic states, capable of hosting counterflow superfluidity and topological orders with long-range quantum entanglement. Here we report evidence for imbalanced electron-hole crystals in a doped Mott insulator, namely, α-RuCl3, through gate-tunable non-invasive van der Waals doping from graphene. Real-space imaging via scanning tunnelling microscopy reveals two distinct charge orderings at the lower and upper Hubbard band energies, whose origin is attributed to the correlation-driven honeycomb hole crystal composed of hole-rich Ru sites and rotational-symmetry-breaking paired electron crystal composed of electron-rich Ru-Ru bonds, respectively. Moreover, a gate-induced transition of electron-hole crystals is directly visualized, further corroborating their nature as correlation-driven charge crystals. The realization and atom-resolved visualization of imbalanced electron-hole crystals in a doped Mott insulator opens new doors in the search for correlated bosonic states within strongly correlated materials.

Highway Deformation Monitoring by Multiple InSAR Technology.

Addressing the challenge of large-scale uneven deformation and the complexities of monitoring road conditions, this study focuses on a segment of the G15 Coastal Highway in Jiangsu Province. It employs PS-InSAR, SBAS-InSAR, and DS-InSAR techniques to comprehensively observe deformation. Analysis of 73 image datasets spanning 2018 to 2021 enables separate derivation of deformation data using distinct InSAR methodologies. Results are then interpreted alongside geological and geomorphological features. Findings indicate widespread deformation along the G15 Coastal Highway, notably significant settlement near Guanyun North Hub and uplift near Guhe Bridge. Maximum deformation rates exceeding 10 mm/year are observed in adjacent areas by all three techniques. To assess data consistency across techniques, identical observation points are identified, and correlation and difference analyses are conducted using statistical software. Results reveal a high correlation between the monitoring outcomes of the three techniques, with an average observation difference of less than 2 mm/year. This underscores the feasibility of employing a combination of these InSAR techniques for road deformation monitoring, offering a reliable approach for establishing real-time monitoring systems and serving as a foundation for ongoing road health assessments.

Sensor-Based Structural Health Monitoring of Asphalt Pavements with Semi-Rigid Bases Combining Accelerated Pavement Testing and a Falling Weight Deflectometer Test.

The Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) of pavement infrastructures holds paramount significance in the assessment and prognostication of the remaining service life of roadways. In response to this imperative, a methodology for surveilling the surface and internal mechanical responses of pavements was devised through the amalgamation of Accelerated Pavement Testing (APT) and Falling Weight Deflectometer (FWD) examinations. An experimental road segment, characterized by a conventional asphalt pavement structure with semi-rigid bases, was meticulously established in Jiangsu, China. Considering nine distinct influencing factors, including loading speed, loading weight, and temperature, innovative buried and layout configurations for Resistive Sensors and Fiber-optic Bragg Grating (FBG) sensors were devised. These configurations facilitated the comprehensive assessment of stress and strain within the road structure across diverse APT conditions. The methodology encompassed the formulation of response baselines, the conversion of electrical signals to stress and strain signals, and the proposition of a signal processing approach involving partial filtering and noise reduction. In experimental findings, the asphalt bottom layer was observed to undergo alternate tensile strains under dynamic loads (the peak strain was ten µÎµ). Simultaneously, the horizontal transverse sensor exhibited compressive strains peaking at 66.5 µÎµ. The horizontal longitudinal strain within the base and subbase ranged between 3 and 5 µÎµ, with the base registering a higher strain value than the subbase. When subjected to FWD, the sensor indicated a diminishing peak pulse signal, with the most pronounced peak response occurring when the load plate was situated atop the sensor. In summary, a comprehensive suite of monitoring schemes for road structures has been formulated, delineating guidelines for the deployment of road sensors and facilitating sustained performance observation over extended durations.

Patterns of the Nutrients and Metabolites in Apostichopus japonicus Fermented by Bacillus natto and Their Ability to Alleviate Acute Alcohol Intoxication.

The aim of this study was to understand the changes in nutrient composition and differences in metabolites in Apostichopus japonicus fermented by Bacillus natto and their function in alleviating acute alcohol intoxication (AAI) through in vivo studies. The results showed no significant difference between the basic components of sea cucumber (SC) and fermented sea cucumber (FSC). The SC proteins were degraded after fermentation, and the amino acid content in FSC was significantly increased. The differentially abundant metabolites of SC and FSC were identified by LC-MS/MS. The contents of amino acid metabolites increased after fermentation, and arachidonic acid metabolism was promoted. The results demonstrated that FSC alleviated AAI by improving the activities of alcohol-metabolizing enzymes and antioxidant enzymes in the liver but did not alleviate the accumulation of triglycerides. Our results will provide beneficial information for the development and application of new products from FSC.

Pavement crack detection based on point cloud data and data fusion.

The three-dimensional detection in point cloud data for pavement cracks has drawn the attention of many researchers recently. In the field of pavement surface point cloud detection, the key tasks include the identification of pavement cracks and the extraction of the location and size information of pavement cracks. Based on the point cloud data of pavement surface, we developed two methods to directly extract and detect cracks, respectively. The first method is based on the improved sliding window algorithm by combining the random sample consensus (RANSAC) technique to directly extract the crack information from point clouds. The second method is developed based on YOLOv5 to process the two-dimensional images transformed from point cloud data for automatic pavement crack detection. We also attempted to fuse the point cloud images with greyscale images as input for the YOLOv5. Analysis results show that the improved sliding window algorithm efficiently extracts pavement cracks with less noise, and the YOLOv5-based method obtains a good detection of pavement cracks. This article is part of the theme issue 'Artificial intelligence in failure analysis of transportation infrastructure and materials'.

Viscoelastic Damage Characteristics of Asphalt Mixtures Using Fractional Rheology.

The mechanical behavior of asphalt mixtures at high stress levels are characterized by non-linear viscoelasticity and damage evolution. A nonlinear damage constitutive model considering the existence of creep hardening and creep damage mechanisms in the entire creep process is proposed in this study by adopting the fractional rheology theory to characterize the three-stage creep process of mixtures. A series of uniaxial compressive creep tests under various stresses were conducted at different temperatures to verify the model. The results indicated that the model predictions were in good agreement with the creep tests. The relationship between the model parameters and applied stresses was established, and the stress range in which the mixture exhibited only creep consolidation was obtained. The damage to the asphalt mixture was initiated in the steady stage; however, it developed in the tertiary stage. A two-parameter Weibull distribution function was used to describe the evolution between the damage values and damage strains at different stress levels and temperatures. The correlation coefficients were greater than 0.99 at different temperatures, indicating that a unified damage evolution model could be established. Thus, the parameters of the unified model were related to material properties and temperature, independent of the stress levels applied to the mixtures.

Investigating the aging mechanism of asphaltene and its dependence on environmental factors through AIMD simulations and DFT calculations.

To understand the complex aging mechanism of asphalt and its dependence on environmental factors, the chemical reactivity of asphaltene during aging under different environmental conditions was studied through first-principles molecular simulations and density functional theory calculations. The aging of asphaltene was demonstrated to involve a series of subreactions along different pathways on the asphaltene molecules, including hydrogen abstraction from carbon, formation of polar groups, aromatization of cycloalkanes, and homolysis of side chains. These subreactions occurred with different free-energy barriers and, therefore, had different kinetic rates. Asphaltene aging was found to be slightly accelerated in the presence of water owing to the improved electron transfer ability of the asphaltene molecule in an aqueous solvent. Under ultraviolet radiation, the asphaltene molecule transitioned to an excited state with an excitation energy of 348.7 kJ/mol, significantly increasing its aging rate. This work bridges the gap between electronic-scale modeling and diversified experimental observations related to asphalt aging and is expected to provide theoretical guidance for strategies to prevent or delay the aging-induced failure of asphalt pavements.

Designing Kagome Lattice from Potassium Atoms on Phosphorus-Gold Surface Alloy.

Materials with flat bands are considered as ideal platforms to explore strongly correlated physics such as the fractional quantum hall effect, high-temperature superconductivity, and more. In theory, a Kagome lattice with only nearest-neighbor hopping can give rise to a flat band. However, the successful fabrication of Kagome lattices is still very limited. Here, we provide a new design principle to construct the Kagome lattice by trapping atoms into Kagome arrays of potential valleys, which can be realized on a potassium-decorated phosphorus-gold surface alloy. Theoretical calculations show that the flat band is less correlated with the neighboring trivial electronic bands, which can be further isolated and dominate around the Fermi energy with increased Kagome lattice parameters of potassium atoms. Our results provide a new strategy for constructing Kagome lattices, which serve as an ideal platform to study topological and more general flat band phenomena.

Hydrological cycle changes under global warming and their effects on multiscale climate variability.

Despite a globally uniform increase in the concentrations of emitted greenhouse gases, radiatively forced surface warming can have significant spatial variations. These define warming patterns that depend on preexisting climate states and through atmospheric and oceanic dynamics can drive changes of the hydrological cycle with global-scale feedbacks. Our study reviews research progress on the hydrological cycle changes and their effects on multiscale climate variability. Overall, interannual variability is expected to become stronger in the Pacific and Indian Oceans and weaker in the Atlantic. Global monsoon rainfall is projected to increase and the wet season to lengthen despite a slowdown of atmospheric circulation. Strong variations among monsoon regions are likely to emerge, depending on surface conditions such as orography and land-sea contrast. Interdecadal climate variability is expected to modulate the globally averaged surface temperature change with pronounced anomalies in the polar and equatorial regions, leading to prolonged periods of enhanced or reduced warming. It is emphasized that advanced global observations, regional simulations, and process-level investigations are essential for improvements in understanding, predicting, and projecting the modes of climate variability, monsoon sensitivity, and energetic fluctuations in a warming climate.

Effects of PM2.5 exposure on the Notch signaling pathway and immune imbalance in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is associated with T lymphocytes subset (Th1/Th2, Th17/Treg) imbalance. Notch signaling pathway plays a key role in the development of the adaptive immunity. The immune disorder induced by fine particulate matter (PM2.5) is related to COPD. The aim of this study was to investigate the mechanism by which PM2.5 influences the Notch signaling pathway leading to worsening immune disorder and accelerating COPD development. A COPD mouse model was established by cigarette smoke exposure. PM2.5 exposure was performed by aerosol inhalation. γ-secretase inhibitor (GSI) was given using intraperitoneal injection. Splenic T lymphocytes were purified using a density gradient centrifugation method. CD4+ T lymphocyte subsets (Th1/Th2, Th17/Treg) were detected using flow cytometry. mRNA and proteins of Notch1/2/3/4, Hes1/5, and Hey1 were detected using RT-PCR and Western blot. Serum INF-γ, IL-4, IL-17 and IL-10 concentrations were measured using ELISA. The results showed that in COPD mice Th1% and Th17%, Th1/Th2 and Th17/Treg were increased, and the levels of mRNA and protein in Notch1/2/3/4, Hes1/5, and Hey1 and serum INF-γ and IL-17 concentrations were significantly increased, and Th2%, Treg%, and serum IL-4 and IL-10 concentrations were significantly decreased. COPD Mice have Th1- and Th17-mediated immune disorder, and the Notch signaling pathway is in an overactivated state. PM2.5 promotes the overactivation of the Notch signaling pathway and aggravates the immune disorder of COPD. GSI can partially inhibit the activation of the Notch signaling pathway and alleviate the immune disorder under basal state and the immune disorder of COPD caused by PM2.5. This result suggests that PM2.5 is involved in the immune disorder of mice with COPD by affecting the Notch signaling pathway and that PM2.5 aggravates COPD.

The effects of genistein and puerarin on the activation of nuclear factor-kappaB and the production of tumor necrosis factor-alpha in asthma patients.

Oxidative stress might play an essential role in the pathogenesis of chronic airway inflammatory diseases, indicating that antioxidant therapy may have a potential effect in controlling chronic airway inflammatory diseases. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of antioxidants genistein and puerarin on the activation of nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-kappaB) and the production of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) in asthma patients. PBMCs were isolated from blood samples of 32 asthma patients and 31 healthy persons, and randomly divided into four groups, control group, dexamethasone group, genistein group and puerarin group. The expression of NF-kappaB in nuclei was analysed by immunocytochemical staining. The level of TNF-alpha was measured by radioimmunoassay. Results showed that the percentage of NF-kappaB positive cells in PBMCs and the level of TNF-alpha in PBMCs supernatants were significantly higher in asthma patients 23.1 +/- 6.7%, 2.10 +/- 0.38 microg/L than in those of healthy persons 7.2 +/- 2.9%, 0.86 +/- 0.53 microg/L (p all < 0.01). There was a positive correlation between the percentage of NF-kappaB positive cells and the level of TNF-alpha in asthma patients (r = 0.709, p < 0.01). The percentages of NF-kappaB positive cells in PBMCs were significantly decreased in the genistein group 15.2 +/- 5.4% and in the puerarin group 16.2 +/- 5.1% than those in control groups 23.1 +/- 6.7% in asthma patients (p respectively < 0.01, < 0.05). The levels of TNF-alpha in PBMCs supernatants were remarkably decreased in genistein group 1.08 +/- 0.40 microg/L and in puerarin group 1.24 +/- 0.29 microg/L than those in control group 2.10 +/- 0.38 microg/L in asthma patients (p all < 0.01). There were positive correlations between the percentages of NF-kappaB positive cells and the levels of TNF-alpha in genistein group (r = 0.579, p < 0.01) and in puerarin group (r = 0.665, p < 0.01) in asthma patients. These results show that the activation of NF-kappaB and TNF-alpha pathway of PBMCs may play an important role in the pathogenesis of asthma. Genistein, and puerarin could inhibit the pathway of NF-kappaB and TNF-alpha in asthma patients, so it was implicated that asthma patients will benefit from the antioxidants genistein and puerarin.