Display performance optimization method for light field displays based on a neural network.

Crosstalk between adjacent views, lens aberrations, and low spatial resolution in light field displays limit the quality of 3D images. In the present study, we introduce a display performance optimization method for light field displays based on a neural network. The method pre-corrects the encoded image from a global perspective, which means that the encoded image is pre-corrected according to the light field display results. The display performance optimization network consists of two parts: the encoded image pre-correction network and the display network. The former realizes the pre-correction of the original encoded image (OEI), while the latter completes the modeling of the display unit and realizes the generation from the encoded image to the viewpoint images (VIs). The pre-corrected encoded image (PEI) obtained through the pre-correction network can reconstruct 3D images with higher quality. The VIs are accessible through the display network. Experimental results suggest that the proposed method can reduce the graininess of 3D images significantly without increasing the complexity of the system. It is promising for light field displays since it can provide improved 3D display performance.

Comparative Transcriptomic Analysis Reveals Domestication and Improvement Patterns of Broomcorn Millet (Panicum miliaceum L.).

Broomcorn millet (Panicum miliaceum L.) is one of the earliest crops, domesticated nearly 8000 years ago in northern China. It gradually spread across the entire Eurasian continent, as well as to America and Africa, with recent improvement in various reproductive and vegetative traits. To identify the genes that were selected during the domestication and improvement processes, we performed a comparative transcriptome analysis based on wild types, landraces, and improved cultivars of broomcorn millet at both seeding and filling stages. The variations in gene expression patterns between wild types and landraces and between landraces and improved cultivars were further evaluated to explore the molecular mechanisms underlying the domestication and improvement of broomcorn millet. A total of 2155 and 3033 candidate genes involved in domestication and a total of 84 and 180 candidate genes related to improvement were identified at seedling and filling stages of broomcorn millet, respectively. The annotation results suggested that the genes related to metabolites, stress resistance, and plant hormones were widely selected during both domestication and improvement processes, while some genes were exclusively selected in either domestication or improvement stages, with higher selection pressure detected in the domestication process. Furthermore, some domestication- and improvement-related genes involved in stress resistance either lost their functions or reduced their expression levels due to the trade-offs between stress resistance and productivity. This study provided novel genetic materials for further molecular breeding of broomcorn millet varieties with improved agronomic traits.

Accelerated Screening of Ternary Chalcogenides for Potential Photovoltaic Applications.

Chalcogenides, which refer to chalcogen anions, have attracted considerable attention in multiple fields of applications, such as optoelectronics, thermoelectrics, transparent contacts, and thin-film transistors. In comparison to oxide counterparts, chalcogenides have demonstrated higher mobility and p-type dopability, owing to larger orbital overlaps between metal-X covalent chemical bondings and higher-energy valence bands derived by p-orbitals. Despite the potential of chalcogenides, the number of successfully synthesized compounds remains relatively low compared to that of oxides, suggesting the presence of numerous unexplored chalcogenides with fascinating physical characteristics. In this study, we implemented a systematic high-throughput screening process combined with first-principles calculations on ternary chalcogenides using 34 crystal structure prototypes. We generated a computational material database containing over 400,000 compounds by exploiting the ion-substitution approach at different atomic sites with elements in the periodic table. The thermodynamic stabilities of the candidates were validated using the chalcogenides included in the Open Quantum Materials Database. Moreover, we trained a model based on crystal graph convolutional neural networks to predict the thermodynamic stability of novel materials. Furthermore, we theoretically evaluated the electronic structures of the stable candidates using accurate hybrid functionals. A series of in-depth characteristics, including the carrier effective masses, electronic configuration, and photovoltaic conversion efficiency, was also investigated. Our work provides useful guidance for further experimental research in the synthesis and characterization of such chalcogenides as promising candidates, as well as charting the stability and optoelectronic performance of ternary chalcogenides.

A Tale of Two Foulants: The Coupling of Organic Fouling and Mineral Scaling in Membrane Desalination.

Membrane desalination that enables the harvesting of purified water from unconventional sources such as seawater, brackish groundwater, and wastewater has become indispensable to ensure sustainable freshwater supply in the context of a changing climate. However, the efficiency of membrane desalination is greatly constrained by organic fouling and mineral scaling. Although extensive studies have focused on understanding membrane fouling or scaling separately, organic foulants commonly coexist with inorganic scalants in the feedwaters of membrane desalination. Compared to individual fouling or scaling, combined fouling and scaling often exhibits different behaviors and is governed by foulant-scalant interactions, resembling more complex but practical scenarios than using feedwaters containing only organic foulants or inorganic scalants. In this critical review, we first summarize the performance of membrane desalination under combined fouling and scaling, involving mineral scales formed via both crystallization and polymerization. We then provide the state-of-the-art knowledge and characterization techniques pertaining to the molecular interactions between organic foulants and inorganic scalants, which alter the kinetics and thermodynamics of mineral nucleation as well as the deposition of mineral scales onto membrane surfaces. We further review the current efforts of mitigating combined fouling and scaling via membrane materials development and pretreatment. Finally, we provide prospects for future research needs that guide the design of more effective control strategies for combined fouling and scaling to improve the efficiency and resilience of membrane desalination for the treatment of feedwaters with complex compositions.

On the challenge of sampling multiple nucleation pathways: A case study of heterogeneous ice nucleation on FCC (211) surface.

Heterogeneous ice nucleation is ubiquitous but its microscopic mechanisms can be extraordinarily complex even on a simple surface. Such complexity poses a challenge in modeling nucleation using advanced sampling methods. Here, we investigate heterogeneous ice nucleation on an FCC (211) surface by a forward flux sampling (FFS) method to understand how the complexity in nucleation pathways affects the accuracy of FFS. We first show the commonly adopted, size-based order parameter fails to describe heterogeneous ice nucleation on the FCC (211) surface. Inclusion of geometric anisotropy of ice nucleus as an additional descriptor is found to significantly improve the quality of the size-based order parameter for the current system. Subsequent application of this new order parameter in FFS identifies two competing ice nucleation pathways in the system: a primary-prism-planed (PPP) path and a secondary-prism-planed (SPP) path, both leading to the formation of hexagonal ice but with different crystalline orientations. Although the PPP pathway dominates ice nucleation on the FCC (211) surface, the occurrence of the less efficient SPP pathway, particularly its strong presence at the early stage of FFS, is found to yield a significant statistical uncertainty in the calculated FFS rate constant. We develop a two-path model that enables gaining a general, quantitative understanding of the impact of initial finite sampling on the reliability of FFS calculations in the presence of multiple nucleation pathways. Our study also suggests a few general strategies for improving the accuracy of FFS when exploring unknown but complex systems.

Prevalence of sufficient physical activity among general adult population and sub-populations with chronic conditions or disability in the USA.

BACKGROUND: Recently, the World Health Organization (WHO) released an updated global guideline on physical activity and sedentary behavior, including recommendations for sub-populations living with chronic conditions or disabilities. We aimed to examine the prevalence of meeting the WHO recommendations among these sub-populations in the USA. METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional study using data from the 2017 to 2018 cycle of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). RESULTS: We revealed variations in physical activity levels among individuals with chronic conditions and disability. US adults with diabetes, hypertension or disability had a lower prevalence of recommended physical activity levels than the general population. In addition, certain demographic groups such as being female, older and having lower socioeconomic status were associated with a lower likelihood of meeting the WHO recommendations on physical activity. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings underscore the importance of promoting physical activity levels among US adults, especially those with older age, low socioeconomic status, hypertension and disability.

Spin-induced linear polarization of photoluminescence in antiferromagnetic van der Waals crystals.

Antiferromagnets are promising components for spintronics due to their terahertz resonance, multilevel states and absence of stray fields. However, the zero net magnetic moment of antiferromagnets makes the detection of the antiferromagnetic order and the investigation of fundamental spin properties notoriously difficult. Here, we report an optical detection of Néel vector orientation through an ultra-sharp photoluminescence in the van der Waals antiferromagnet NiPS3 from bulk to atomically thin flakes. The strong correlation between spin flipping and electric dipole oscillator results in a linear polarization of the sharp emission, which aligns perpendicular to the spin orientation in the crystal. By applying an in-plane magnetic field, we achieve manipulation of the photoluminescence polarization. This correlation between emitted photons and spins in layered magnets provides routes for investigating magneto-optics in two-dimensional materials, and hence opens a path for developing opto-spintronic devices and antiferromagnet-based quantum information technologies.

Heterogeneous Ice Nucleation Studied with Single-Layer Graphene.

Control of heterogeneous ice nucleation (HIN) is critical for applications that range from iceophobic surfaces to ice-templated materials. HIN on 2D materials is a particular interesting topic that still lacks extensive experimental investigations. Here, we focus on the HIN on single-layer graphene (SLG) transferred onto different substrates, including silicon, silica, and thermal oxide on silicon. Complemented by other samples without SLG, we obtain a large range of wetting contact angles (WCAs) from 2° to 95°. All pristine SLG samples exhibit a large contact angle of ∼95°, which is close to the theoretical value of 96° for free-standing SLG, irrespective of the substrate and even in the presence of nanoscale wrinkles on SLG, which are due to the transfer process, indicating that the topographical features have little impact on the wetting behavior. Interestingly, SLG displays changes in hydrophobicity upon repeated water droplet freezing-melting-drying cycles due to a shift in Fermi level and/or enhanced water-substrate polar molecular interactions, likely induced by residual adsorption of H2O molecules. We found that a 0.04 eV decrease in SLG Fermi level reduces the SLG/water interface energy by ∼6 mJ/m2, thereby making SLG less hydrophobic. Counterintuitively, the reduction in SLG/water interface energy and the enhanced hydrophilicity after repeated freezing-melting-evaporation cycles actually decreases the freezing temperature by ∼3-4 °C, thereby slightly retarding rather than enhancing HIN. We also found that the water droplet freezing temperature differed by only ∼1 °C on different substrates with WCAs from 2° to 95°, an intriguing and yet reasonable result that confirms that wettability alone is not a good indicator of HIN capability. The HIN rate is rather determined by the difference between substrate/water and substrate/ice interface energies, which was found to stay almost constant for substrates weakly interacting with water/ice via van der Waals or hydrogen bonds, irrespective of hydrophilicity.

Which Surface Is More Scaling Resistant? A Closer Look at Nucleation Theories for Heterogeneous Gypsum Nucleation in Aqueous Solutions.

Developing engineered surfaces with scaling resistance is an effective means to inhibit surface-mediated mineral scaling in various industries including desalination. However, contrasting results have been reported on the relationship between scaling potential and surface hydrophilicity. In this study, we combine a theoretical analysis with experimental investigation to clarify the effect of surface wetting property on heterogeneous gypsum (CaSO4·2H2O) formation on surfaces immersed in aqueous solutions. Theoretical prediction derived from classical nucleation theory (CNT) indicates that an increase of surface hydrophobicity reduces scaling potential, which contrasts our experimental results that more hydrophilic surfaces are less prone to gypsum scaling. We further consider the possibility of nonclassical pathway of gypsum nucleation, which proceeds by the aggregation of precursor clusters of CaSO4. Accordingly, we investigate the affinity of CaSO4 to substrate surfaces of varied wetting properties via calculating the total free energy of interaction, with the results perfectly predicting experimental observations of surface scaling propensity. This indicates that the interactions between precursor clusters of CaSO4 and substrate surfaces might play an important role in regulating heterogeneous gypsum formation. Our findings provide evidence that CNT might not be applicable to describing gypsum scaling in aqueous solutions. The fundamental insights we reveal on gypsum scaling mechanisms have the potential to guide rational design of scaling-resistant engineered surfaces.

Inorganic Crystal Structure Prototype Database Based on Unsupervised Learning of Local Atomic Environments.

Recognition of structure prototypes from tremendous known inorganic crystal structures has been an important subject beneficial for materials science research and new materials design. The existing databases of inorganic crystal structure prototypes were mostly constructed by classifying materials in terms of the crystallographic space group information. Herein, we employed a distinct strategy to construct the inorganic crystal structure prototype database, relying on the classification of materials in terms of local atomic environments (LAEs) accompanied by unsupervised machine learning method. Specifically, we adopted a hierarchical clustering approach onto all experimentally known inorganic crystal structure data to identify structure prototypes. The criterion for hierarchical clustering is the LAE represented by the state-of-the-art structure fingerprints of the improved bond-orientational order parameters and the smooth overlap of atomic positions. This allows us to build up a LAE-based Inorganic Crystal Structure Prototype Database (LAE-ICSPD) containing 15,613 structure prototypes with defined stoichiometries. In addition, we have developed a Structure Prototype Generator Infrastructure (SPGI) package, which is a useful toolkit for structure prototype generation. Our developed SPGI toolkit and LAE-ICSPD are beneficial for investigating inorganic materials in a global way as well as accelerating the materials discovery process in the data-driven mode.

Prevention and control of COVID-19 by primary health care facilities in China: a field-survey-based qualitative study in three typical cities.

BACKGROUND: During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) containment, primary health care (PHC) facilities inChina played an important role in providing both healthcare and public care services to community populations. The tasks of COVID-19 containment facilitated by PHC facilities were different among different regions and during different periods of COVID-19 pandemic. We sought to investigate the gaps on task participation, explore existing problems and provide corresponding solutions. METHODS: Semi-structured face-to-face interviews with COVID-19 prevention and control management teams of PHC facilities were conducted. Purposive stratified sampling was used and 32 team members of 22 PHC facilities were selected from Wuhan (as high-risk city), Shanghai (as medium-risk city) and Zunyi (as low-risk city). Framework analysis was employed to analyze the transcribed recordings. RESULTS: The main tasks of PHC facilities during the early period of the pandemic included assisting in contact tracing and epidemiological investigation, screening of populations at high-risk at travel centers/internals, house-by-house, or pre-examination/triage within PHC facilities; at-home/ centralized quarantine management; the work of fever sentinel clinics. Further analyses revealed the existing problems and suggestions for improvement or resolutions. Regular medical supply reserves were recommended because of the medical supply shortage during the pre-outbreak period. Temporarily converted quarantine wards and centralized quarantine centers could be used to deal with pressures on patients' treatment and management of the febrile patients. Only after strict evaluation of nucleic acid testing (NAT) results and housing conditions, decision on quarantine at-home or centralized quarantine centers could be made. Settings of fever sentinel clinics at PHC facilities allowed fever patients with no COVID-19 infection risks for treatment without being transferred to fever clinics of the designed secondary hospitals. Psychological intervention was sometimes in need and really helped in addressing individuals' mental pressures. CONCLUSIONS: During the COVID-19 containment, PHC facilities in China were responsible for different tasks and several problems were encountered in the working process. Accordingly, specific and feasible suggestions were put forward for different problems. Our findings are highly beneficial for healthcare teams and governments in handling similar situations.

Self-accelerated corrosion of nuclear waste forms at material interfaces.

The US plan for high-level nuclear waste includes the immobilization of long-lived radionuclides in glass or ceramic waste forms in stainless-steel canisters for disposal in deep geological repositories. Here we report that, under simulated repository conditions, corrosion could be significantly accelerated at the interfaces of different barrier materials, which has not been considered in the current safety and performance assessment models. Severe localized corrosion was found at the interfaces between stainless steel and a model nuclear waste glass and between stainless steel and a ceramic waste form. The accelerated corrosion can be attributed to changes of solution chemistry and local acidity/alkalinity within a confined space, which significantly alter the corrosion of both the waste-form materials and the metallic canisters. The corrosion that is accelerated by the interface interaction between dissimilar materials could profoundly impact the service life of the nuclear waste packages, which, therefore, should be carefully considered when evaluating the performance of waste forms and their packages. Moreover, compatible barriers should be selected to further optimize the performance of the geological repository system.

Characteristic Analysis and Structural Design of Hollow-Core Photonic Crystal Fibers with Band Gap Cladding Structures.

Due to their flexible structure and excellent optical characteristics hollow-core photonic crystal fibers (HC-PCFs) are used in many fields, such as active optical devices, communications, and optical fiber sensing. In this paper, to analyze the characteristics of HC-PCFs, we carried out finite element analysis and analyzed the design for the band gap cladding structure of HC-PCFs. First, the characteristics of HC19-1550 and HC-1550-02 in the C-band were simulated. Subsequently, the structural optimization of the seven-cell HC-1550-02 and variations in characteristics of the optimized HC-1550-02 in the wavelength range 1250-1850 nm were investigated. The simulation results revealed that the optimal number of cladding layers is eight, the optimal core radius is 1.8 times the spacing of adjacent air holes, and the optimal-relative thickness of the core quartz-ring is 2.0. In addition, the low confinement loss bandwidth of the optimized structure is 225 nm. Under the transmission bandwidth of the optimized structure, the core optical power is above 98%, the confinement loss is below 9.0 × 10-3 dB/m, the variation range of the effective mode field area does not exceed 10 µm2, and the relative sensitivity is above 0.9570. The designed sensor exhibits an ultra-high relative sensitivity and almost zero confinement loss, making it highly suitable for high-sensitivity gas or liquid sensing.

New Polymorphs of 2D Indium Selenide with Enhanced Electronic Properties.

The 2D semiconductor indium selenide (InSe) has attracted significant interest due its unique electronic band structure, high electron mobility, and wide tunability of its band gap energy achieved by varying the layer thickness. All these features make 2D InSe a potential candidate for advanced electronic and optoelectronic applications. Here, the discovery of new polymorphs of InSe with enhanced electronic properties is reported. Using a global structure search that combines artificial swarm intelligence with first-principles energetic calculations, polymorphs that consist of a centrosymmetric monolayer belonging to the point group D 3d are identified, distinct from well-known polymorphs based on the D 3h monolayers that lack inversion symmetry. The new polymorphs are thermodynamically and kinetically stable, and exhibit a wider optical spectral response and larger electron mobilities compared to the known polymorphs. Opportunities to synthesize these newly discovered polymorphs and viable routes to identify them by X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, and second harmonic generation experiments are discussed.

MiR-145 functions as a tumor suppressor in Papillary Thyroid Cancer by inhibiting RAB5C.

Papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) accounts for the largest proportion of thyroid cancers; and its morbidity rate has dramatically increased in recent decades. However, the pathogenesis mechanisms of PTC are still not clear. This study aimed to reveal that miR-145 acts as an antitumor miRNA in the progression of PTC. In the present study, the expression of miR-145 was analyzed in 57 paired PTC patient samples. The relationship between clinicopathological features and miR-145 expression were also defined. The tumor suppressive function of miR-145 on PTC cell metastasis, proliferation and apoptosis were revealed in vitro. Also, we used dual luciferase reporter assay to define the relationship of miR-145 and RAB5C. RAB5C was reported to participate in cell invasion and cell motility. We found that miR-145 was downregulated in PTCs, which was negatively correlated with PTC progression and metastasis. MiR-145 inhibited PTC migration, proliferation and promoted apoptosis by directly suppresing RAB5C. In conclusion, miR-145 functions as a tumor suppressor in PTC by inhibiting RAB5C. MiR-145 and RAB5C are potential therapeutic targets in therapy of aggressive PTC cases.

A Refractive Index Sensor Based on H-Shaped Photonic Crystal Fibers Coated with Ag-Graphene Layers.

An Ag-graphene layers-coated H-shaped photonic crystal fiber (PCF) surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensor with a U-shaped grooves open structure for refractive index (RI) sensing is proposed and numerically simulated by the finite element method (FEM). The designed sensor could solve the problems of air-holes material coating and analyte filling in PCF. Two big air-holes in the x-axis produce a birefringence phenomenon leading to the confinement loss and sensitivity of x-polarized light being much stronger than y-polarized. Graphene is deposited on the layer of silver in the grooves; its high surface to volume ratio and rich π conjugation make it a suitable dielectric layer for sensing. The effect of structure parameters such as air-holes size, U-shaped grooves depth, thickness of the silver layer and number of graphene layers on the sensing performance of the proposed sensor are numerical simulated. A large analyte RI range from 1.33 to 1.41 is calculated and the highest wavelength sensitivity is 12,600 nm/RIU. In the linear RI sensing region of 1.33 to 1.36; the average wavelength sensitivity we obtained can reach 2770 nm/RIU with a resolution of 3.61 × 10-5 RIU. This work provides a reference for developing a high-sensitivity; multi-parameter measurement sensor potentially useful for water pollution monitoring and biosensing in the future.

Zn-Alloyed CsPbI3 Nanocrystals for Highly Efficient Perovskite Light-Emitting Devices.

We alloyed Zn2+ into CsPbI3 perovskite nanocrystals by partial substitution of Pb2+ with Zn2+, which does not change their crystalline phase. The resulting alloyed CsPb0.64Zn0.36I3 nanocrystals exhibited an improved, close-to-unity photoluminescence quantum yield of 98.5% due to the increased radiative decay rate and the decreased non-radiative decay rate. They also showed an enhanced stability, which correlated with improved effective Goldschmidt tolerance factors, by the incorporation of Zn2+ ions with a smaller radius than the Pb2+ ions. Simultaneously, the nanocrystals switched from n-type (for CsPbI3) to nearly ambipolar for the alloyed nanoparticles. The hole injection barrier of electroluminescent LEDs was effectively eliminated by using alloyed CsPb0.64Zn0.36I3 nanocrystals, and a high peak external quantum efficiency of 15.1% has been achieved.

Temporal patterns of influenza A subtypes and B lineages across age in a subtropical city, during pre-pandemic, pandemic, and post-pandemic seasons.

BACKGROUND: Seasonal patterns of influenza A subtypes and B lineages in tropical/subtropical regions across age have remained to be explored. The impact of the 2009 H1N1 pandemic on seasonal influenza activity have not been well understood. METHODS: Based on a national sentinel hospital-based influenza surveillance system, the epidemiology of influenza virus during 2006/07-2015/16 was characterized in the subtropical city, Chengdu. Chengdu is one of the most populous cities in southwestern China, where the first reported case of A/H1N1pdm09 in mainland China was identified. Wavelet analysis was applied to identify the periodicities of A/H3N2, seasonal A/H1N1, A/H1N1pdm09, Victoria, and Yamagata across age, respectively. The persistence and age distribution patterns were described during the pre-pandemic (2006/07-2008/09), pandemic (2009/10), and post-pandemic (2010/11-2015/16) seasons. RESULTS: A total of 10,981 respiratory specimens were collected, of which 2516 influenza cases were identified. Periodicity transition from semi-annual cycles to an annual cycle was observed for composite influenza virus as well as A/H3N2 along in Chengdu since the 2009 H1N1 pandemic. Semi-annual cycles of composite influenza virus and A/H3N2 along were observed again during 2014/15-2015/16, coinciding with the emergence and predominance of A/H3N2 significant antigenic drift groups. However, A/H1N1pdm09, Victoria, and Yamagata generally demonstrated an annual winter-spring peak in non-pandemic seasons. Along with periodicity transitions, age groups with higher positive rates shifted from school-aged children and adults to adults and the elderly for A/H1N1pdm09 during 2009/10-2010/11 and for A/H3N2 during 2014/15-2015/16. CONCLUSIONS: Differences in periodicity and age distribution by subtype/lineage and by season highlight the importance of increasing year-round influenza surveillance and developing subtype/lineage- and age-specific prevention and control measures. Changes of periodicity and age shifts should be considered in public health response to influenza pandemics and epidemics. In addition, it is suggested to use quadrivalent influenza vaccines to provide protection against both influenza B lineages.

Correction to: Temporal patterns of influenza A subtypes and B lineages across age in a subtropical city, during pre-pandemic, pandemic, and post-pandemic seasons.

Following publication of the original article [1], the author reported an error in the title.

Optically transparent metasurface Salisbury screen with wideband microwave absorption.

We present an optically transparent broadband microwave absorber based on the concept of metasurface Salisbury screen (MSS). The metasurface with optimized reflection phase profiles is used as the ground plane to excite multi-MSS resonances that are required for achieving continuous wide absorption bandwidth. Meanwhile, by employing indium tin oxide (ITO) film and glass dielectric substrate, high optical transparency and wideband microwave absorption can be obtained simultaneously. Both full-wave electromagnetic simulations and experiments demonstrate that the transparent MSS can perform an efficient absorption over 89% in an ultra-wide frequency band ranging from 4.1 GHz to 17.5 GHz with a sub-wavelength thickness. In addition, good angular performances are observed for all wave polarizations. The proposed MSS may provide a powerful platform for efficiently designing broadband absorption in microwave region with advantages of light weight, thin thickness, and high optical transparency, which could further find potential uses in many real-world applications.