Tuning of 2D rod-type photonic crystal cavity for optical modulation and impact sensing

We propose a novel way of mechanical perturbation of photonic crystal cavities for on-chip applications. We utilize the equivalence of the 2D photonic crystals with perfect electric conductor (PEC) boundary conditions to the infinite height 3D counterparts for rod type photonic crystals. Designed structures are sandwiched with PEC boundaries above and below and the perturbation of the cavity structures is demonstrated by changing the height of PEC boundary. Once a defect filled with air is introduced, the metallic boundary conditions is disturbed and the effective mode permittivity changes leading to a tuned optical properties of the structures. Devices utilizing this perturbation are designed for telecom wavelengths and PEC boundaries are replaced by gold plates during implementation. For 10 nm gold plate displacement, two different cavity structures showed a 21.5 nm and 26 nm shift in the resonant wavelength. Optical modulation with a 1.3 MHz maximum modulation frequency with a maximum power consumption of 36.81 nW and impact sensing with 20 μs response time (much faster compared to the commercially available ones) are shown to be possible

Sketch-a-Net: A Deep Neural Network that Beats Humans

This Project received support from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under Grant Agreement #640891, and the Royal Society and Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) Joint Grant #IE141387 and #61511130081. We gratefully acknowledge the support of NVIDIA Corporation for the donation of the GPUs used for this research

Reducing the environmental impact of surgery on a global scale: systematic review and co-prioritization with healthcare workers in 132 countries

Background Healthcare cannot achieve net-zero carbon without addressing operating theatres. The aim of this study was to prioritize feasible interventions to reduce the environmental impact of operating theatres. Methods This study adopted a four-phase Delphi consensus co-prioritization methodology. In phase 1, a systematic review of published interventions and global consultation of perioperative healthcare professionals were used to longlist interventions. In phase 2, iterative thematic analysis consolidated comparable interventions into a shortlist. In phase 3, the shortlist was co-prioritized based on patient and clinician views on acceptability, feasibility, and safety. In phase 4, ranked lists of interventions were presented by their relevance to high-income countries and low–middle-income countries. Results In phase 1, 43 interventions were identified, which had low uptake in practice according to 3042 professionals globally. In phase 2, a shortlist of 15 intervention domains was generated. In phase 3, interventions were deemed acceptable for more than 90 per cent of patients except for reducing general anaesthesia (84 per cent) and re-sterilization of ‘single-use’ consumables (86 per cent). In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for high-income countries were: introducing recycling; reducing use of anaesthetic gases; and appropriate clinical waste processing. In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for low–middle-income countries were: introducing reusable surgical devices; reducing use of consumables; and reducing the use of general anaesthesia. Conclusion This is a step toward environmentally sustainable operating environments with actionable interventions applicable to both high– and low–middle–income countries

Comparison of generic and lung cancer-specific quality of life instruments for predictive ability of survival in patients with advanced lung cancer.

BACKGROUND: Our purpose is to examine the relationship of Health related quality of life measured by EORTC QLQc30, QLQ-LC13; FACT-L, LCSS, Eq5D) with survival in advanced lung cancer patients. A total of 299 Lung Cancer (LC) patients were, included in this national multicenter Project entitled of "the LC Quality of Life Project (AKAYAK). Baseline scores were analyzed by using Cox's proportional hazard regression to identify factors that influenced survival. Univariate and multivariate models were run for each of the scales included in the study. RESULTS: Mean and median survival were 12.5 and 8.0 months respectively. Clinical stage (as TNM), comorbidity; symptom scales of fatigue, insomnia, appetit loss and constipation were associated with survival after adjustment for age and sex. Global, physical and role functioning scales of QLQc30; physical and functional scales of LCS and TOI of the FACT-L was also associated with survival. Mobility and Usual activities dimensions of the Eq5D; Physical functioning and the constipation symptom scale of the QLQ-c30; and LCS and TOI scores of the FACT-L remained statistically significant after adjustment. LC13 and LCSS scales were not predictors of survival. CONCLUSIONS: HRQOL serves as an additional predictive factor for survival that supplements traditional clinical factors. Besides the strong predictive ability of ECOG on survival, FACT-L and the Eq5D are the most promising HRQOL instruments for this purpose

Efficient sensing of single viruses and nanoparticles by nanomechanical sensors integrated with ion lenses

Nanoelectromechanical Systems (NEMS) resonators can be used to detect, weigh and identify single nanoparticles and viruses. Given their small footprint, however, NEMS are plagued by low analyte detection rate since the active sensing cross-sections to capture analyte particles is very small. Here we report on the development of an on-chip focusing lens operating in air and integrated with the NEMS sensor. The integrated system increases the capture efficiency by orders of magnitude, and allows for operation under ambient conditions to measure the mass of nanoparticles and virions. With this system, mass spectrum of nanoparticle samples and mammalian viruses at biologically relevant concentrations can be characterized within less than 30 minutes

Atmospheric pressure mass spectrometry of single viruses and nanoparticles by nanoelectromechanical systems

Mass spectrometry of intact nanoparticles and viruses can serve as a potent characterization tool for material science and biophysics. Inaccessible by widespread commercial techniques, the mass of single nanoparticles and viruses (>10MDa) can be readily measured by nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS)-based mass spectrometry, where charged and isolated analyte particles are generated by electrospray ionization (ESI) in air and transported onto the NEMS resonator for capture and detection. However, the applicability of NEMS as a practical solution is hindered by their miniscule surface area, which results in poor limit-of-detection and low capture efficiency values. Another hindrance is the necessity to house the NEMS inside complex vacuum systems, which is required in part to focus analytes toward the miniscule detection surface of the NEMS. Here, we overcome both limitations by integrating an ion lens onto the NEMS chip. The ion lens is composed of a polymer layer, which charges up by receiving part of the ions incoming from the ESI tip and consequently starts to focus the analytes toward an open window aligned with the active area of the NEMS electrostatically. With this integrated system, we have detected the mass of gold and polystyrene nanoparticles under ambient conditions and with two orders-of-magnitude improvement in capture efficiency compared to the state-of-the-art. We then applied this technology to obtain the mass spectrum of SARS-CoV-2 and BoHV-1 virions. With the increase in analytical throughput, the simplicity of the overall setup, and the operation capability under ambient conditions, the technique demonstrates that NEMS mass spectrometry can be deployed for mass detection of engineered nanoparticles and biological samples efficiently