Association between ambient temperature and hospitalizations for urolithiasis in four counties of Ganzhou, China.

We collected meteorological and urolithiasis-related hospitalization data from four counties in Ganzhou City for 2018-2019 and used the DLNM method to assess the lagged and cumulative effects of temperature on urolithiasis hospitalizations and obtain the total effect after meta-combination. Based on the nonlinear association between temperature and urolithiasis hospitalizations, the relative risk of overall high temperature (30℃) was 2.10 (95% CI: 1.07-4.10). No statistically significant difference (p = 0.07) was observed between males (RR = 2.04, 95% CI: 1.42-2.94) and females (RR = 1.45, 95% CI: 1.09-1.92) for the heat effect, which was higher in the ≥ 60 years age group (RR = 3.18, 95% CI: 1.76-5.76) than in the < 60 years age group (p = 0.007). High temperatures increased the risk of hospitalization for urolithiasis in Ganzhou, China, and the risk was greatest for individuals aged 60 and above, with similar risks observed across counties and genders.

Combined Replacement of Fishmeal and Fish Oil by Poultry Byproduct Meal and Mixed Oil: Effects on the Growth Performance, Body Composition, and Muscle Quality of Tiger Puffer.

This study aimed to evaluate the effects of combined replacement of fishmeal (FM) and fish oil (FO) with poultry byproduct meal (PBM) and mixed oil (MO, poultry oil: coconut oil = 1 : 1) on growth performance, body composition and muscle quality of tiger puffer (Takifugu rubripes). Fish with an average initial body weight of 14.29 g were selected for the feeding experiment. FM accounting for 0%, 5%, and 10% of the diet was replaced by PBM. For each grade of FM replacement, 5% FO or MO was used as added oil. The six experimental diets were designated as FO-FM, MO-FM, FO-5PBM, MO-5PBM, FO-10PBM, and MO-10PBM, respectively. Each treatment was performed in triplicate with 30 fish per replicate. The feeding period was 45 days. There was no significant difference in growth performance among the groups. Dietary supplementation of both PBM and MO had marginal effects on whole-fish proximate composition, except that dietary MO supplementation significantly increased the liver moisture content. In serum, there were no significant differences in contents of triglyceride, total cholesterol, total bile acid, and protein carbonyl among groups, but the malondialdehyde content was reduced by MO. The fatty acid composition in fish mirrored those in the diets, but the omega-3 sparing effects of saturated and monounsaturated fatty acid in MO can still be observed. Dietary PBM and MO had marginal effects on free amino acid composition and texture of fish muscle, but exerted complicated effects on the muscle volatile flavor compound composition. In conclusion, combined fishmeal (10% of the diet) and fish oil (5% of the diet) replacement with poultry byproduct and mixed oil (poultry oil + coconut oil) had no adverse effects on the growth performance and body proximate composition of farmed tiger puffer. However, these replacements changed the muscle flavor compound profile.

On-chip multi-beam frequency shifter through sideband separation.

In this paper, we introduce a novel method to realize a multi-beam optical frequency shifting component for photonic integrated circuits, utilizing an array of parallel optical modulators and a free-propagation region (FPR), such as a slab waveguide-based star coupler. This component generates multiple optical beams with different frequency shifts, making it suitable for various systems, such as multi-beam laser Doppler vibrometry (LDV). We thoroughly elaborate on the working principle of the component through theoretical analysis and demonstrate that by applying periodic wave-like modulation in the modulator array, the discrete harmonic content of the light can be selectively directed to different outputs based on the delay between consecutive modulators. A design comprising a 16-element modulator array and 5 outputs will be presented. Simulations show that this design can generate and collect 5 different harmonics (-2, -1, 0, +1, +2) in the different outputs with a side band suppression ratio of 20 dB to 30 dB for each output. Our proposed design is just one possibility and the component can be modified and optimized for specific applications.

Ferroelectric and strain-tuned MoSe2/Bi2O2Se van der Waals heterostructure with band alignment evolution.

The vertically stacked two-dimensional van der Waals heterostructure (2D vdWH) provides a unique platform for integrating distinctive properties of various 2D materials by functionalizing the interfacial interaction and regulating its band alignment. Herein, we theoretically propose a new MoSe2/Bi2O2Se vdWH material, in which a zigzag-zipper structure of the Bi2O2Se monolayer is constructed to model its ferroelectric polarization and maintain a small interlayer mismatch with MoSe2. The results show a typical unipolar barrier structure with a large band offset in the conduction band and nearly zero offset in the valence band of MoSe2/Bi2O2Se when the ferroelectric polarization of Bi2O2Se is back to MoSe2, in which the electron migration is blocked and holes can migrate unimpeded. It is also found that the band alignment lies between the type-I and type-II heterostructures and band offsets can be flexibly modulated under the joint action of ferroelectric polarization of Bi2O2Se and in-plane biaxial tensile and compressive strains. This work would facilitate the development of multifunctional devices based on the MoSe2/Bi2O2Se heterostructure material.

A Compensation Method for Nonlinearity Errors in Optical Interferometry.

Optical coherent detection is widely used for highly sensitive sensing applications, but nonlinearity issues pose challenges in accurately interpreting the system outputs. Most existing compensation methods require access to raw measurement data, making them not useful when only demodulated data are available. In this study, we propose a compensation method designed for direct application to demodulated data, effectively addressing the 1st and 2nd-order nonlinearities in both homodyne and heterodyne systems. The approach involves segmenting the distorted signal, fitting and removing baselines in each section, and averaging the resulting distortions to obtain precise distortion shapes. These shapes are then used to retrieve compensation parameters. Simulation shows that the proposed method can effectively reduce the deviation caused by the nonlinearities without using the raw data. Experimental results from a silicon-photonics-based homodyne laser Doppler vibrometry prove that this method has a similar performance as the conventional Heydemann correction method.

Dietary Cholesterol Supplementation Inhibits the Steroid Biosynthesis but Does Not Affect the Cholesterol Transport in Two Marine Teleosts: A Hepatic Transcriptome Study.

Cholesterol has been used as additive in fish feeds due to the reduced use of fish meal and fish oil. In order to evaluate the effects of dietary cholesterol supplementation (D-CHO-S) on fish physiology, a liver transcriptome analysis was performed following a feeding experiment on turbot and tiger puffer with different levels of dietary cholesterol. The control diet contained 30% fish meal (0% fish oil) without cholesterol supplementation, while the treatment diet was supplemented with 1.0% cholesterol (CHO-1.0). A total of 722 and 581 differentially expressed genes (DEG) between the dietary groups were observed in turbot and tiger puffer, respectively. These DEG were primarily enriched in signaling pathways related to steroid synthesis and lipid metabolism. In general, D-CHO-S downregulated the steroid synthesis in both turbot and tiger puffer. Msmo1, lss, dhcr24, and nsdhl might play key roles in the steroid synthesis in these two fish species. Gene expressions related to cholesterol transport (npc1l1, abca1, abcg1, abcg2, abcg5, abcg8, abcb11a, and abcb11b) in the liver and intestine were also extensively investigated by qRT-PCR. However, the results suggest that D-CHO-S rarely affected the cholesterol transport in both species. The protein-protein interaction (PPI) network constructed on steroid biosynthesis-related DEG showed that in turbot, Msmo1, Lss, Nsdhl, Ebp, Hsd17b7, Fdft1, and Dhcr7 had high intermediary centrality in the dietary regulation of steroid synthesis. In conclusion, in both turbot and tiger puffer, the supplementation of dietary cholesterol inhibits the steroid metabolism but does not affect the cholesterol transport.

Stomatal morphology and physiology explain varied sensitivity to abscisic acid across vascular plant lineages.

Abscisic acid (ABA) can induce rapid stomatal closure in seed plants, but the action of this hormone on the stomata of fern and lycophyte species remains equivocal. Here, ABA-induced stomatal closure, signaling components, guard cell K+ and Ca2+ fluxes, vacuolar and actin cytoskeleton dynamics, and the permeability coefficient of guard cell protoplasts (Pf) were analyzed in species spanning the diversity of vascular land plants including 11 seed plants, 6 ferns, and 1 lycophyte. We found that all 11 seed plants exhibited ABA-induced stomatal closure, but the fern and lycophyte species did not. ABA-induced hydrogen peroxide elevation was observed in all species, but the signaling pathway downstream of nitric oxide production, including ion channel activation, was only observed in seed plants. In the angiosperm faba bean (Vicia faba), ABA application caused large vacuolar compartments to disaggregate, actin filaments to disintegrate into short fragments and Pf to increase. None of these changes was observed in the guard cells of the fern Matteuccia struthiopteris and lycophyte Selaginella moellendorffii treated with ABA, but a hypertonic osmotic solution did induce stomatal closure in fern and the lycophyte. Our results suggest that there is a major difference in the regulation of stomata between the fern and lycophyte plants and the seed plants. Importantly, these findings have uncovered the physiological and biophysical mechanisms that may have been responsible for the evolution of a stomatal response to ABA in the earliest seed plants.

Growth, Optical, and Spectroscopic Properties of Pure and Nd3+-Doped GdSr3(PO4)3 Crystals with Disordered Structure.

Disordered crystals have attracted immense attention for the generation of ultrashort laser pulses due to their good thermomechanical characteristics and wide emission bandwidths. In this work, a Gd-based orthophosphate crystal, GdSr3(PO4)3, (GSP), and a Nd3+-doped GdSr3(PO4)3 crystal, (Nd:GSP), were obtained by the Czochralski method. The crystal structure, optical properties, electronic band structure, laser damage threshold, and hardness of the GSP crystal were comprehensively investigated. It exhibited a disordered structure due to the random distribution of Sr and Gd atoms in the same Wyckoff site, which caused inhomogeneous spectral broadening. Additionally, it exhibited a short UV absorption cutoff edge (<200 nm), a large band gap (5.81 eV), and a high laser damage threshold (∼1850 MW/cm2). The spectral properties and Judd-Ofelt calculations of the Nd:GSP crystals were analyzed. A wide absorption band at 803 nm, with a full width at half-maximum value of 20 nm, makes the Nd:GSP crystal suitable for the efficient pumping of AlGaAs laser diodes. Sub-100-fs pulses could be supported by its 25 nm emission bandwidth. Hence, the GSP crystal could be a promising disordered crystal laser matrix.

Miniaturization of Laser Doppler Vibrometers-A Review.

Laser Doppler vibrometry (LDV) is a non-contact vibration measurement technique based on the Doppler effect of the reflected laser beam. Thanks to its feature of high resolution and flexibility, LDV has been used in many different fields today. The miniaturization of the LDV systems is one important development direction for the current LDV systems that can enable many new applications. In this paper, we will review the state-of-the-art method on LDV miniaturization. Systems based on three miniaturization techniques will be discussed: photonic integrated circuit (PIC), self-mixing, and micro-electrochemical systems (MEMS). We will explain the basics of these techniques and summarize the reported miniaturized LDV systems. The advantages and disadvantages of these techniques will also be compared and discussed.

Density Functional Theory Study of the Point Defects on KDP (100) and (101) Surfaces.

Surface defects are usually associated with the formation of other forms of expansion defects in crystals, which have an impact on the crystals' growth quality and optical properties. Thereby, the structure, stability, and electronic structure of the hydrogen and oxygen vacancy defects (VH and VO) on the (100) and (101) growth surfaces of KDP crystals were studied by using density functional theory. The effects of acidic and alkaline environments on the structure and properties of surface defects were also discussed. It has been found that the considered vacancy defects have different properties on the (100) and (101) surfaces, especially those that have been reported in the bulk KDP crystals. The (100) surface has a strong tolerance for surface VH and VO defects, while the VO defect causes a large lattice relaxation on the (101) surface and introduces a deep defect level in the band gap, which damages the optical properties of KDP crystals. In addition, the results show that the acidic environment is conducive to the repair of the VH defects on the surface and can eliminate the defect states introduced by the surface VO defects, which is conducive to improving the quality of the crystal surface and reducing the defect density. Our study opens up a new way to understand the structure and properties of surface defects in KDP crystals, which are different from the bulk phase, and also provides a theoretical basis for experimentally regulating the surface defects in KDP crystals through an acidic environment.

Regulating the Electronic Structure of Freestanding Graphene on SiC by Ge/Sn Intercalation: A Theoretical Study.

The intrinsic n-type of epitaxial graphene on SiC substrate limits its applications in microelectronic devices, and it is thus vital to modulate and achieve p-type and charge-neutral graphene. The main groups of metal intercalations, such as Ge and Sn, are found to be excellent candidates to achieve this goal based on the first-principle calculation results. They can modulate the conduction type of graphene via intercalation coverages and bring out interesting magnetic properties to the entire intercalation structures without inducing magnetism to graphene, which is superior to the transition metal intercalations, such as Fe and Mn. It is found that the Ge intercalation leads to ambipolar doping of graphene, and the p-type graphene can only be obtained when forming the Ge adatom between Ge layer and graphene. Charge-neutral graphene can be achieved under high Sn intercalation coverage (7/8 bilayer) owing to the significantly increased distance between graphene and deformed Sn intercalation. These findings would open up an avenue for developing novel graphene-based spintronic and electric devices on SiC substrate.

Nonlinear signal errors in homodyne laser Doppler vibrometry induced by strong second-order ghost reflections and their mitigation.

A variety of mechanisms can induce distortions in the output signals of a homodyne laser Doppler vibrometer (LDV). In this paper, the nonlinear LDV distortions caused by a strong second-order ghost reflection originating from lens flares are theoretically explained and analyzed. We propose a simple compensation method to mitigate this distortion. The performance and limitations of this method are also explained both in simulation and in experiment.

Mitigation of speckle noise in laser Doppler vibrometry by using a scanning average method.

We present a scanning average method used in laser Doppler vibrometry systems for mitigating the noise induced by dynamic speckles. In this method, the measurement beam is scanned over the target surface within the area of interest at a relatively high frequency. Then an averaging operation (e.g., low-pass filtering) is applied to the acquired photocurrent signals to remove the impacts of the scan. Movement signals recovered from the averaged photocurrents turn out to have lower speckle-induced noise. We report the experimental demonstration of this technique through the use of a silicon-based photonic integrated circuit.

On-chip silicon Mach-Zehnder interferometer sensor for ultrasound detection.

A highly sensitive ultrasound sensor based on an integrated photonics Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) fabricated in silicon-on-insulator technology is reported. The sensing spiral is located on a membrane of size 121 µm×121 µm. Ultrasound waves excite the membrane's vibrational mode, which translates to modulation of the MZI transmission. The measured sensor transfer function is centered at 0.47 MHz and has a -6 dB bandwidth of 21.2%. The sensor sensitivity is linear in the optical input power and reaches a maximum 0.62 mV/Pa, which is limited by the interrogation method. At 0.47 MHz and for an optical power of 1.0 mW the detection limit is 0.38 mPa/Hz1/2 and the dynamic range is 59 dB. The MZI's gradual transmission function allows a wide range of wavelength operation points. This strongly facilitates sensor use and is promising for applications.

Intrinsic Properties of Macroscopically Tuned Gallium Nitride Single-Crystalline Facets for Electrocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution.

The anisotropy of crystalline materials results in different physical and chemical properties on different facets, which warrants an in-depth investigation. Macroscopically facet-tuned, high-purity gallium nitride (GaN) single crystals were synthesised and machined, and the electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) was used as the model reaction to show the differences among the facets. DFT calculations revealed that the Ga and N sites of GaN (100) had a considerably smaller ΔGH* value than those of the metal Ga site of GaN (001) or N site of GaN (00-1), thereby indicating that GaN (100) should be more catalytically active for the HER on account of its nonpolar facet. Subsequent experiments testified that the electrocatalytic performance of GaN (100) was considerably more efficient than that of other facets for both acidic and alkaline HERs. Moreover, the GaN crystal with a preferentially (100) active facet had an excellently durable alkaline electrocatalytic HER for more than 10 days. This work provides fundamental insights into the exploration of the intrinsic properties of materials and designing advanced materials for physicochemical applications.

Interaction between Bi Dopants and Intrinsic Defects in LiNbO3 from Local and Hybrid Density Functional Theory Calculations.

The interactions between Bi dopants including Bi-substituting Li (BiLi) and Bi-substituting Nb (BiNb) and the intrinsic antisite defects (NbLi) and Li vacancies (VLi) in LiNbO3 are investigated using local and hybrid density functional theories. Three charge-compensated defect clusters, BiLi4+ + NbLi4+ + 8VLi-, BiLi4+ + 4VLi-, and BiLi4+ + BiNb0 + 4VLi-, are modeled in this work to investigate the effects of the Bi concentration. The most stable cluster configurations, the Bi-doping stability in the clusters, and the electronic state interaction between Bi and intrinsic defects have been studied in detail. It is found that BiLi4+ has a stronger electron-capturing ability than NbLi4+ in Bi-doped congruent LiNbO3. The BiLi-doping-induced local lattice distortion and the electron-trapping behavior remain unchanged with increasing Bi-doping concentration. However, the position of the Bi defect states in the band gap is found to be shifted in congruent LiNbO3. This is mainly attributed to the large lattice relaxation induced by the large number of Li vacancies instead of the ionic level redistribution caused by the direct interaction between Bi and intrinsic defects.

Comparison of hydrogen vacancies in KDP and ADP crystals: a combination of density functional theory calculations and experiment.

The hydrogen vacancy (VH) is the most common point defect that may lead to optical damage of potassium dihydrogen phosphate (KDP) and its analog ammonium dihydrogen phosphate (ADP), further limiting their practical application in high-power laser systems. In this work, we have grown KDP and ADP crystals by using a rapid growth method, and investigated the physical origin of the different stability of VH as well as the defect-induced electronic structure and optical absorption in KDP and ADP crystals. The inclusion of van der Waals correction to density functional theory calculations is found to have little influence on VH energetics of KDP whereas it largely reduces the charge transition level ε(+/-) of VH by >2 eV in ADP. It is found that hydrogen vacancies mainly contribute to the redshift of the measured absorption edges of both KDP and ADP crystals. Owing to the varied lattice environments and locations, the VH defects exhibit different stability, and electronic and optical properties in KDP and ADP crystals. Notably, the extra optical absorption caused by the positively-charged VH in KDP could be largely reduced by decreasing the defect concentration, whereas ADP exhibits defect-location dependence - the optical damage center of the VH in the NH4+ group could not be eliminated because of electron capture of its neighboring N atoms. The calculation results help us to better understand the origin of laser damage in KDP and ADP crystals.

Six-beam homodyne laser Doppler vibrometry based on silicon photonics technology.

This paper describes an integrated six-beam homodyne laser Doppler vibrometry (LDV) system based on a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) full platform technology, with on-chip photo-diodes and phase modulators. Electronics and optics are also implemented around the integrated photonic circuit (PIC) to enable a simultaneous six-beam measurement. Measurement of a propagating guided elastic wave in an aluminum plate (speed ≈ 909 m/s @ 61.5 kHz) is demonstrated.

Critical Role of Water and Oxygen Defects in C-O Scission during CO2 Reduction on Zn2GeO4(010).

Exploration of catalyst structure and environmental sensitivity for C-O bond scission is essential for improving the conversion efficiency because of the inertness of CO2. We performed density functional theory calculations to understand the influence of the properties of adsorbed water and the reciprocal action with oxygen vacancy on the CO2 dissociation mechanism on Zn2GeO4(010). When a perfect surface was hydrated, the introduction of H2O was predicted to promote the scission step by two modes based on its appearance, with the greatest enhancement from dissociative adsorbed H2O. The dissociative H2O lowers the barrier and reaction energy of CO2 dissociation through hydrogen bonding to preactivate the C-O bond and assisted scission via a COOH intermediate. The perfect surface with bidentate-binding H2O was energetically more favorable for CO2 dissociation than the surface with monodentate-binding H2O. Direct dissociation was energetically favored by the former, whereas monodentate H2O facilitated the H-assisted pathway. The defective surface exhibited a higher reactivity for CO2 decomposition than the perfect surface because the generation of oxygen vacancies could disperse the product location. When the defective surface was hydrated, the reciprocal action for vacancy and surface H2O on CO2 dissociation was related to the vacancy type. The presence of H2O substantially decreased the reaction energy for the direct dissociation of CO2 on O2c1- and O3c2-defect surfaces, which converts the endoergic reaction to an exoergic reaction. However, the increased decomposition barrier made the step kinetically unfavorable and reduced the reaction rate. When H2O was present on the O2c2-defect surface, both the barrier and reaction energy for direct dissociation were invariable. This result indicated that the introduction of H2O had little effect on the kinetics and thermodynamics. Moreover, the H-assisted pathway was suppressed on all hydrated defect surfaces. These results provide a theoretical perspective for the design of highly efficient catalysts.

Doping stability of nonphotorefractive ions in stoichiometric and congruent LiNbO3.

The doping stability of various nonphotorefractive ions including Mg, Zn, In, Sc, Sn, Hf, and Zr in stoichiometric, congruent, and Fe-doped LiNbO3 has been investigated by hybrid density functional theory. It is found to be energetically prefer for all the dopants to incorporate into Li sites of all the considered LiNbO3 samples at their highest charge states. The dopants with higher charge states and d electron states show lower formation energies. The introduction of intrinsic antisite NbLi and Li vacancy VLi point defects as well as extrinsic Fe dopants could promote the nonphotorefractive dopant incorporation, but did not change the relative stability order of the investigated dopants. It is found that the amount of intrinsic Nb4+/2+Li photorefractive centers is not only reduced by dopant substitution but also by the energetic suppression of the nonphotorefractive ion incorporation. Intrinsic point defects and the dopant substitution preference in NbLi or normal Li sites both play key roles in the relative order of the doping threshold concentration. Moreover, the energetics and electronic structures of the nonphotorefractive dopants and Fe codoped LiNbO3 are also investigated in this work.