Approaching the Intrinsic Bandgap in Suspended High-Mobility Graphene Nanoribbons

We report electrical transport measurements on a suspended ultra-low-disorder graphene nanoribbon(GNR) with nearly atomically smooth edges that reveal a high mobility exceeding 3000 cm2 V-1 s-1 and an intrinsic band gap. The experimentally derived bandgap is in quantitative agreement with the results of our electronic-structure calculations on chiral GNRs with comparable width taking into account the electron-electron interactions, indicating that the origin of the bandgap in non-armchair GNRs is partially due to the magnetic zigzag edges.Comment: 22 pages, 6 figure

Mobility enhancement and highly efficient gating of monolayer MoS2 transistors with Polymer Electrolyte

We report electrical characterization of monolayer molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) devices using a thin layer of polymer electrolyte consisting of poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) and lithium perchlorate (LiClO4) as both a contact-barrier reducer and channel mobility booster. We find that bare MoS2 devices (without polymer electrolyte) fabricated on Si/SiO2 have low channel mobility and large contact resistance, both of which severely limit the field-effect mobility of the devices. A thin layer of PEO/ LiClO4 deposited on top of the devices not only substantially reduces the contact resistance but also boost the channel mobility, leading up to three-orders-of-magnitude enhancement of the field-effect mobility of the device. When the polymer electrolyte is used as a gate medium, the MoS2 field-effect transistors exhibit excellent device characteristics such as a near ideal subthreshold swing and an on/off ratio of 106 as a result of the strong gate-channel coupling.Comment: 17 pages, 4 figures, accepted by J. Phys.

Variety shows in the Chinese market: applying uses and gratifications theory and culture theory and to understand audiences’ viewer engagement, motivations and preferences

Master of ScienceDepartment of Journalism and Mass CommunicationsAlec TefertillerAs variety shows are rapidly developing in the Chinese market, brand-new viewer engagement is occurring in the young generation of China. This study applies uses and gratifications theory to understand the motivation and viewer engagement of Chinese audiences. With the development of technology, variety shows break free from cable television; the combination of online players provides audiences a broader platform to consume different styles of variety shows. Thus, this study applies uses and gratifications theory to examine the satisfaction that technology provides to viewers, as well as culture theory as another theory to understand whether cultural orientation has impacts on consuming variety shows

Crosstalk between cytokines and IgG N-Glycosylation: Bidirectional effects and relevance to clinical innovation for inflammatory diseases

The crosstalk between cytokines and immunoglobulin G (IgG) N-glycosylation forms a bidirectional regulatory network that significantly impacts inflammation and immune function. This review examines how various cytokines, both pro- and anti-inflammatory, modulate IgG N-glycosylation, shaping antibody activity and influencing inflammatory responses. In addition, we explore how altered IgG N-glycosylation patterns affect cytokine production and immune signaling, either promoting or reducing inflammation. Through a comprehensive analysis of current studies, this review underscores the dynamic relationship between cytokines and IgG N-glycosylation. These insights enhance our understanding of the mechanisms underlying inflammatory diseases and contribute to improved strategies for disease prevention, diagnosis, monitoring, prognosis, and the exploration of novel treatment options. By focusing on this crosstalk, we identify new avenues for developing innovative diagnostic tools and therapies to improve patient outcomes in inflammatory diseases

RTVis: Research Trend Visualization Toolkit

When researchers and practitioners are about to start a new project or have just entered a new research field, choosing a proper research topic is always challenging. To help them have an overall understanding of the research trend in real-time and find out the research topic they are interested in, we develop the Research Trend Visualization toolkit (RTVis) to analyze and visualize the research paper information. RTVis consists of a field theme river, a co-occurrence network, a specialized citation bar chart, and a word frequency race diagram, showing the field change through time respectively, cooperating relationship among authors, paper citation numbers in different venues, and the most common words in the abstract part. Moreover, RTVis is open source and easy to deploy. The demo of our toolkit and code with detailed documentation are both available online.Comment: Work submitted to IEEE VIS 2023 (Poster). 2 pages, 1 figure. For our demo page, visit http://www.rtvis.design

A driving method for gray scale multiplication of electrowetting display based on hybrid modulation

In order to solve the problem of low gray level due to the few driving chips developed based on the photoelectric characteristics of electrowetting display, a driving method based on modulation is proposed to double the gray level of electrowetting display. In this method, the driving waveform based on pulse amplitude modulation and pulse width modulation hybrid modulation is designed, and the gray level–luminance curve of the electrowetting display is measured and analyzed. On this basis, the luminance nonlinear correction is carried out, and the improvement of 64 Gy levels to 127 Gy levels is realized by the principle of human visual persistence phenomenon. The experimental results show that the proposed driving scheme can break through the limitation of the driving chip and realize the multiplication of gray levels, in which 96% gray levels increase steadily with an average luminance difference of 0.07, and at the same time enhance the contrast and improve the display effect

The role of IgG N-galactosylation in spondyloarthritis

Spondyloarthritis (SpA) is a group of chronic inflammatory arthritic diseases causing inflammatory back pain and stiffness, leading to irreversible damage of joint and spine, seriously affecting the quality of life. However, the exact pathogenesis of SpA is still unknown, although the blockers of tumor necrosis factor (TNF) are a major therapeutic advance. Of interest is the association between SpA and Immunoglobulin G (IgG) N-glycosylation. IgG N-glycosylation is a process of post-translational modification (PTM) that takes part in regulating anti- and pro-inflammatory effects. A relationship between IgG N-glycosylation and the development of inflammatory arthritic diseases exists, in addition this relationship often occurs before the onset of disease. There are studies reporting the association between IgG N-glycosylation and SpA, leading to a significant amount of data being generated. Analysis of this data in a rigorous form is greatly needed, hence this review will focus on identifying the relationships that exist between IgG N-glycosylation in inflammatory arthritis. More specifically, the modification to the structure of IgG N-glycosylation via TNF blockers as a treatment, the link between disease activity and IgG N-glycosylation, and the predictive capacity of IgG N-glycosylation in SpA. Investigation of IgG N-glycosylation has demonstrated that IgG N-galactosylation plays an important role in the development and prognosis of SpA. This association provides a novel pathway to further research to improve early diagnosis and possible biomarkers for treatment of patients with SpA

Multi-AUV Cooperative Underwater Multi-Target Tracking Based on Dynamic-Switching-enabled Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning

With the rapid development of underwater communication, sensing, automation, robot technologies, autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) swarms are gradually becoming popular and have been widely promoted in ocean exploration and underwater tracking or surveillance, etc. However, the complex underwater environment poses significant challenges for AUV swarm-based accurate tracking for the underwater moving targets. In this paper, we aim at proposing a multi-AUV cooperative underwater multi-target tracking algorithm especially when the real underwater factors are taken into account.We first give normally modelling approach for the underwater sonar-based detection and the ocean current interference on the target tracking process.Then, we regard the AUV swarm as a underwater ad-hoc network and propose a novel Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning (MARL) architecture towards the AUV swarm based on Software-Defined Networking (SDN).It enhances the flexibility and scalability of the AUV swarm through centralized management and distributed operations.Based on the proposed MARL architecture, we propose the "dynamic-attention switching" and "dynamic-resampling switching" mechanisms, to enhance the efficiency and accuracy of AUV swarm cooperation during task execution.Finally, based on a proposed AUV classification method, we propose an efficient cooperative tracking algorithm called ASMA.Evaluation results demonstrate that our proposed tracking algorithm can perform precise underwater multi-target tracking, comparing with many of recent research products in terms of convergence speed and tracking accuracy

Study on the Characteristics of Contrast-Enhanced Ultrasound and Its Utility in Assessing the Microvessel Density in Ovarian Tumors or Tumor-Like Lesions

Angiogenesis is a critical factor in tumor growth and metastasis, and microvessel density (MVD) was an important parameter for assessing vessels in tumors. However, radiologic assessment of tumor vascularity is not yet well established. In our study, we aimed at investigating the efficacy of contrast-enhanced ultrasonography (CEUS) in exploring the vascularity of the ovarian tumors or tumor-like lesions to assess the relationship between the parameters of the peak intensity (PI) and area under curve (AUC) on CEUS and MVD in ovarian masses. Compared to the contrast-enhanced ultrasound technique, conventional ultrasound shows limitation in differentiating benign and malignant ovarian tumors. The former is promising in improving the sensitivity of detecting small vessels and blood flow in ovarian tumors. Our results showed clear differences in enhancement patterns between benign and malignant ovary tumors or tumor-like lesions. The PI and AUC in the malignant tumors were significantly higher than those in the benign tumors or tumor-like lesions (p=0.001 and =0.01, respectively). The MVD was 43.1 ± 20.4 in the benign tumors or tumor-like lesions and was 65.3 ± 22.3 in the malignant ones (p= 0.01). In both the benign and malignant groups, the PI and AUC were correlated significantly with the MVD (r=0.595, p = 0.001; r =0.533, p = 0.003, respectively). The PI and AUC in CEUS can reflect the MVD in ovarin tumors. The PI and AUC of the ovarian masses in the contrast transvaginal sonography show significant correlation with the angiogenesis and may help in assessing tumor vascularity in ovarian masses