Phase Coexistence Implications of Violating Newton's Third Law

Newton's third law, actio = reactio, is a foundational statement of classical mechanics. However, in natural and living systems, this law appears to be routinely violated for constituents interacting in a nonequilibrium environment. Here, we use computer simulations to explore the macroscopic phase behavior implications of breaking microscopic interaction reciprocity for a simple model system. We consider a binary mixture of attractive particles and introduce a parameter which is a continuous measure of the degree to which interaction reciprocity is broken. In the reciprocal limit, the species are indistinguishable and the system phase separates into domains with distinct densities and identical compositions. Increasing nonreciprocity is found to drive the system to explore a rich assortment of phases, including phases with strong composition asymmetries and three-phase coexistence. Many of the states induced by these forces, including traveling crystals and liquids, have no equilibrium analogue. By mapping the complete phase diagram for this model system and characterizing these unique phases, our findings offer a concrete path forward towards understanding how nonreciprocity shapes the structures found in living systems and how this might be leveraged in the design of synthetic materials

Myopia progression after cessation of atropine in children: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Purpose: To comprehensively assess rebound effects by comparing myopia progression during atropine treatment and after discontinuation.Methods: A systematic search of PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane CENTRAL, and ClinicalTrials.gov was conducted up to 20 September 2023, using the keywords “myopia," “rebound,” and “discontinue." Language restrictions were not applied, and reference lists were scrutinized for relevant studies. Our study selection criteria focused on randomized control trials and interventional studies involving children with myopia, specifically those treated with atropine or combination therapies for a minimum of 6 months, followed by a cessation period of at least 1 month. The analysis centered on reporting annual rates of myopia progression, considering changes in spherical equivalent (SE) or axial length (AL). Data extraction was performed by three independent reviewers, and heterogeneity was assessed using I2 statistics. A random-effects model was applied, and effect sizes were determined through weighted mean differences with 95% confidence intervals Our primary outcome was the evaluation of rebound effects on spherical equivalent or axial length. Subgroup analyses were conducted based on cessation and treatment durations, dosage levels, age, and baseline SE to provide a nuanced understanding of the data.Results: The analysis included 13 studies involving 2060 children. Rebound effects on SE were significantly higher at 6 months (WMD, 0.926 D/y; 95%CI, 0.288–1.563 D/y; p = .004) compared to 12 months (WMD, 0.268 D/y; 95%CI, 0.077–0.460 D/y; p = .006) after discontinuation of atropine. AL showed similar trends, with higher rebound effects at 6 months (WMD, 0.328 mm/y; 95%CI, 0.165–0.492 mm/y; p < .001) compared to 12 months (WMD, 0.121 mm/y; 95%CI, 0.02–0.217 mm/y; p = .014). Sensitivity analyses confirmed consistent results. Shorter treatment durations, younger age, and higher baseline SE levels were associated with more pronounced rebound effects. Transitioning or stepwise cessation still caused rebound effects but combining optical therapy with atropine seemed to prevent the rebound effects.Conclusion: Our meta-analysis highlights the temporal and dose-dependent rebound effects after discontinuing atropine. Individuals with shorter treatment durations, younger age, and higher baseline SE tend to experience more significant rebound effects. Further research on the rebound effect is warranted.Systematic Review Registration: [https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?RecordID=463093], identifier [registration number

The Study and Implementation of Network-Based Auditing System with Session Tracking and Monitoring

With consideration of the increasing importance of auditing system and the present auditing systems’ incapability of performing packet reassembling analysis, this research attempts to develop a “network-based auditing system with session tracking and monitoring” to assist network administrators to analyze and rearrange the packets into separate session groups. This developed system is able to reveal every single step of the unauthorized activities. As a result, the administrators can investigate each network session and its transferred data more efficiently, and reduced greatly the time for auditing data analysis. In addition, the event reconstruction simulates the actual event occurred at that time; this feature provides network administrators with more detailed and realistic insight concerning vulnerabilities in network security that need to be fixed. Also, this system keeps track of all network events, and collects related information in a set of auditing files (log files). Moreover, the collected records and reassembled files can serve as evidences in tracing cyber-crimes and as references for recovery process

T Oligo-Primed Polymerase Chain Reaction (TOP-PCR): A Robust Method for the Amplification of Minute DNA Fragments in Body Fluids.

Body fluid DNA sequencing is a powerful noninvasive approach for the diagnosis of genetic defects, infectious agents and diseases. The success relies on the quantity and quality of the DNA samples. However, numerous clinical samples are either at low quantity or of poor quality due to various reasons. To overcome these problems, we have developed T oligo-primed polymerase chain reaction (TOP-PCR) for full-length nonselective amplification of minute quantity of DNA fragments. TOP-PCR adopts homogeneous "half adaptor" (HA), generated by annealing P oligo (carrying a phosphate group at the 5' end) and T oligo (carrying a T-tail at the 3' end), for efficient ligation to target DNA and subsequent PCR amplification primed by the T oligo alone. Using DNA samples from body fluids, we demonstrate that TOP-PCR recovers minute DNA fragments and maintains the DNA size profile, while enhancing the major molecular populations. Our results also showed that TOP-PCR is a superior method for detecting apoptosis and outperforms the method adopted by Illumina for DNA amplification

Identification of Proteins Related to Nickel Homeostasis in Helicobater pylori by Immobilized Metal Affinity Chromatography and Two-Dimensional Gel Electrophoresis

Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) is a widespread human pathogen causing peptic ulcers and chronic gastritis. Maintaining nickel homeostasis is crucial for the establishment of H. pylori infection in humans. We used immobilized-nickel affinity chromatography to isolate Ni-related proteins from H. pylori cell extracts. Two-dimensional gel electrophoresis and mass spectrometry were employed to separate and identify twenty two Ni-interacting proteins in H. pylori. These Ni-interacting proteins can be classified into several general functional categories, including cellular processes (HspA, HspB, TsaA, and NapA), enzymes (Urease, Fumarase, GuaB, Cad, PPase, and DmpI), membrane-associated proteins (OM jhp1427 and HpaA), iron storage protein (Pfr), and hypothetical proteins (HP0271, HP jhp0216, HP jhp0301, HP0721, HP0614, and HP jhp0118). The implication of these proteins in nickel homeostasis is discussed

Plasmonic Circular Nanostructure for Enhanced Light Absorption in Organic Solar Cells

This study attempts to enhance broadband absorption in advanced plasmonic circular nanostructures (PCN). Experimental results indicate that the concentric circular metallic gratings can enhance broadband optical absorption, due to the structure geometry and the excitation of surface plasmon mode. The interaction between plasmonic enhancement and the absorption characteristics of the organic materials (P3HT:PCBM and PEDOT:PSS) are also examined. According to those results, the organic material's overall optical absorption can be significantly enhanced by up to ~51% over that of a planar device. Additionally, organic materials are enhanced to a maximum of 65% for PCN grating pitch = 800 nm. As a result of the PCN's enhancement in optical absorption, incorporation of the PCN into P3HT:PCBM-based organic solar cells (OSCs) significantly improved the performance of the solar cells: short-circuit current increased from 10.125 to 12.249 and power conversion efficiency from 3.2% to 4.99%. Furthermore, optimizing the OSCs architectures further improves the performance of the absorption and PCE enhancement

High-Efficiency Isolated Photovoltaic Microinverter Using Wide-Band Gap Switches for Standalone and Grid-Tied Applications

An isolated photovoltaic micro-inverter for standalone and grid-tied applications is designed and implemented to achieve high efficiency. System configuration and design considerations, including the proposed active-clamp forward-flyback resonant converter for the DC-DC stage and a dual-frequency full-bridge inverter for the DC-AC stage, are analyzed and discussed. A prototype microinverter system is built and tested. Experimental results verify the feasibility of the proposed system, which achieves 95% power conversion efficiency at full load