"Chinese Connection" in Diasporic Nationalism: An Analysis of Fist of Fury as a National Allegory

According to Balibar, nationalism is an ideological tool used to create affective bonds among people as a nation community produced through a state-led nationalization process. On the one hand, this process retrospectively nationalizes, or appropriates, the so-called pre-history of a nation-state that includes different polities and institutions not necessarily reducible to those of nation-state. On the other hand, it progressively nationalizes society, intervening in almost every sector of private life, especially through universal schooling and the nuclear family. (Balibar, 1991) Although these two nationalization processes are clearly distinguishable in their object-history and society and method-appropriation and intervention, they essentially share a commonality in that both are repressive in nature: nationalization of the pre-history of a nation-state means no other than teleological and evolutionary writing of history to exclusively legitimize and privilege the nation-state, which seems to be the culmination of human civilization but is in fact just one of various political forms that have existed so far. Nationalization of society is only possible when private spaces are systematically repressed and controlled by the centralized state that is in charge of the entire nationalization process. (Balibar: 92) As Duara has demonstrated, for example, the top-down statist nationalization in imperial China eventually led to the suppression of fengjian tradition, in which the centralized imperial state was checked by autonomous local powers and communities, as well as by civil-society discourses throughout the 20th century. (Duara, 2003: 147-175

Theoretical Evaluation of Two-Dimensional Ferroelectric Material CuInP2S6 for Ferroelectric Tunnel Junction Device

Ferroelectric tunnel junction (FTJ) exploiting the switchable polarization of ferroelectric material holds great potential for the low-power non-volatile memory. Recently, two-dimensional (2D) ferroelectric material CuInP2S6 (CIPS) which can provide ferroelectricity at the ultimate atomic-scale has been successfully introduced in FTJ to achieve significantly improved TER. Here, we present a theoretical study on the performance of FTJ based on CIPS through the quantum transport simulation using kp Hamiltonian obtained from density functional theory. Benchmarking with ferroelectric HfZrO2-based FTJ reveals that much higher TER can be achieved in CIPS-based FTJ due to a lower tunneling potential barrier and a larger tunneling effective mass

Efficient Generation of Program Execution Hash

Distributed computing systems often require verifiable computing techniques in case their node is untrusted. To verify a node's computation result, proof-of-work (PoW) is often utilized as a basis of verifiable computing method; however, this mechanism is only valid for computations producing results based on specific algorithm (e.g., AES decryption). To date, there is no efficient PoW mechanism applicable to arbitrary algorithm or a computation that does not produce any tangible output (e.g., void function). This paper proposes execution hash to serve as a proof for a program's idempotent computation result without relying on its algorithm. Two versions of execution hash generation methods were designed and implemented and the efficacy was evaluated in terms of performance and reliability. Implementation was based on LLVM/Clang 6.0 and evaluation was based on open-source software, including GNU binutils/coreutils and Google's OSSFuzz projects

Identification of Erythromycin and Clarithromycin Metabolites Formed in Chicken Liver Microsomes Using Liquid Chromatography–High-Resolution Mass Spectrometry

Nontargeted analysis can be used for the rapid screening and confirmatory analysis of veterinary drugs and their metabolites, which are important for the comprehensive safety evaluation of animal-derived foods. Here, a novel nontargeted screening approach based on liquid chromatography coupled with electrospray ionization–high-resolution mass spectrometry (LC/ESI–HR-MS) was developed to determine erythromycin, clarithromycin, and their metabolites in chicken liver microsomes. Erythromycin and clarithromycin were incubated in vitro in the presence of NADPH for 60 min to generate metabolites in chicken liver microsomes. After the incubation, the supernatant was extracted using ultrasonic shaking, orbital shaking, and centrifugation before analysis using LC/ESI-HR-MS in positive ion mode on an Agilent Eclipse Plus C18 column (100 mm × 2.1 mm; i.d. 3.5 µm) with 0.1 percent formic acid-water and acetonitrile as the mobile phases for gradient elution at 0.4 mL/min. The results show that erythromycin can produce N-desmethyl-erythromycin A in chicken liver microsomes, but clarithromycin cannot produce N-desmethyl-clarithromycin in chicken liver microsomes. The N-desmethyl-erythromycin A and N-desmethyl-clarithromycin were tentatively identified in chicken liver microsomes using the established quick analytic method, which will provide a theoretical foundation for future research on pharmacokinetics and drug elimination in poultry

Colorimetric and Resistive Polymer Electrolyte Thin Films for Real-time Humidity Sensors

We have developed fast responsive, colorimetric and resistive-type polymeric humidity sensors from a series of self-assembled poly­(styrenesulfonate-methylbutylene) (PSS-b-PMB) block copolymers with tailored hygroscopic properties. In dry state, the PSS-b-PMB films exhibit hexagonal cylindrical morphology where hydrophobic PMB cylinders are dispersed within a PSS matrix. Under levels of humidity, the PSS-b-PMB thin films self-displayed discernible reflective color changes, covering almost entire visible light regions from violet (RH = 20%) to red (RH = 95%). The sensors also revealed a few orders of magnitude changes in impedance with exposure to humid air by taking advantages of strong polymer electrolytes characteristics. Remarkably, the time to complete the changes in the signals was only a few seconds, as rationalized by good connectivity of the PSS domains and short water diffusion pathways in nanometer scales. Repeated hydration/dehydration tests demonstrated reliable sensor properties, which is in sharp contrast to the poor stability of PSS homopolymer sensors lacking organization

3D multi-structural foot imaging using dual-modal photoacoustic and ultrasound imaging

We demonstrate an agent-free multi-structural peripheral angiography technique based on the volumetric photoacoustic (PA) and ultrasound (US) images. The volumetric images are obtained by stacking B-mode PA/US images along the elevational direction using a motorized scanner. Three structural features such as skin, bone, and vasculature are extracted from the volumetric US image and combined with the PA microvasculature image to provide a multi-structural vascular image of the foot. For quantitative PA imaging, we have tested the reliability of the PA images. The method can be used to provide a comprehensive anatomic and functional analysis of the extremity. ? COPYRIGHT SPIE. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.1

Colorimetric and Resistive Polymer Electrolyte Thin Films for Real-time Humidity Sensors

We have developed fast responsive, colorimetric and resistive-type polymeric humidity sensors from a series of self-assembled poly­(styrenesulfonate-methylbutylene) (PSS-b-PMB) block copolymers with tailored hygroscopic properties. In dry state, the PSS-b-PMB films exhibit hexagonal cylindrical morphology where hydrophobic PMB cylinders are dispersed within a PSS matrix. Under levels of humidity, the PSS-b-PMB thin films self-displayed discernible reflective color changes, covering almost entire visible light regions from violet (RH = 20%) to red (RH = 95%). The sensors also revealed a few orders of magnitude changes in impedance with exposure to humid air by taking advantages of strong polymer electrolytes characteristics. Remarkably, the time to complete the changes in the signals was only a few seconds, as rationalized by good connectivity of the PSS domains and short water diffusion pathways in nanometer scales. Repeated hydration/dehydration tests demonstrated reliable sensor properties, which is in sharp contrast to the poor stability of PSS homopolymer sensors lacking organization

Doping-Free All PtSe2 Transistor via Thickness-Modulated Phase Transition

Achieving a high-quality metal contact on two-dimensional (2D) semiconductors still remains a major challenge due to the strong Fermi level pinning and the absence of an effective doping method. Here, we demonstrate high performance "all-PtSe2" field-effect transistors (FETs) completely free from those issues, enabled by the vertical integration of a metallic thick PtSe2 source/drain onto the semiconducting ultrathin PtSe2 channel. Owing to its inherent thickness-dependent semiconductor-to-metal phase transition, the transferred metallic PtSe2 transforms the underlying semiconducting PtSe2 into metal at the junction. Therefore, a fully metallized source/drain and semiconducting channel could be realized within the same PtSe2 platform. The ultrathin PtSe2 FETs with PtSe2 vdW contact exhibits excellent gate tunability, superior mobility, and high ON current accompanied by one order lower contact resistance compared to conventional Ti/Au contact FETs. Our work provides a new device paradigm with a low resistance PtSe2 vdW contact which can overcome a fundamental bottleneck in 2D nanoelectronics

Polymorphic Phase Control Mechanism of Organic–Inorganic Hybrid Perovskite Engineered by Dual-Site Alloying

As a next-generation solar cell, perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have been attracting considerable attention. FAPbI₃ is particularly considered as an optimal material with a proper band gap and thus has been employed as a base material for the PSCs with more than 20% efficiency; however, the competitive polymorphic growth of α- and δ-phases is a major hurdle in utilizing this material. To provide the theoretical model of the polymorphic phase competition of FAPbI₃ for the first time, we here investigate how compositional engineering can pave a route to control the polymorphic growth of FAPbI₃ using density functional theory combined with a statistical-mechanical treatment of the configurational space. We find that dual-site alloying of both cations and halides is critically important to achieve the specific stabilization of the α-phase while maintaining the good miscibility, thermodynamic stability, and optimal band gap property. Based on our first successful theoretical modeling of the FAPbI₃ system and its polymorphic phase competition behavior during dual-site alloying, we anticipate deriving new rational guidelines on compositional engineering of organic–inorganic hybrid perovskite alloys for designing PSCs with high efficiencies and stabilities