Crystal metamorphosis at stress extremes: how soft phonons turn into lattice defects

r The Author(s) 2016 At 0 K, phonon instability controls the ideal strength and the ultrafast dynamics of defect nucleation in perfect crystals under high stress. However, how a soft phonon evolves into a lattice defect is still unclear. Here, we develop a full-Brillouin zone soft-phonon-searching algorithm that shows outstanding accuracy and efficiency for pinpointing general phonon instability within the joint material-reciprocal (x–k) spaces. By combining finite-element modeling with embedded phonon algorithm and atomistic simulation, we show how a zone-boundary soft phonon is first triggered in a simple metal (aluminum) under nanoindentation, subsequently leading to a transient new crystal phase and ensuing nucleation of a deformation twin with only one-half of the transformation strain of the conventional twin. We propose a two-stage mechanism governing the transformation of unstable shortwave phonons into lattice defects, which is fundamentally different from that initially triggered by soft long-wavelength phonons. The uncovered material dynamics at stress extremes reveal deep connections between delocalized phonons and localized defects trapped by the full nonlinear potential energy landscape and add to the rich repertoire of nonlinear dynamics found in nature.National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 50971090)National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51071101)National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51471107)National Science Foundation (U.S.). Division of Materials Research (DMR-410636

Evaluation of a new chemiluminescence immunoassay for diagnosis of syphilis

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Objective</p> <p>To assess the sensitivity, specificity, and feasibility of a new chemiluminescence immunoassay (CLIA) in the diagnosis of syphilis.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>At first, a retrospective study was conducted, using 135 documented cases of syphilis and 30 potentially interfering samples and 80 normal sera. A prospective study was also performed by testing 2, 071 unselected samples for routine screening for syphilis. CLIA was compared with a nontreponemal test (TRUST) and a treponemal test (TPPA).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>There was an agreement of 100% between CLIA and TPPA in the respective study. The percentage of agreement among the 245 sera tested was 100.0%. Compared with TPPA, the specificity of CLIA was 99.9% (1817/1819), the sensitivity of CLIA was 100.0% (244/244) in the prospective study. CLIA showed 99.5% agreement with TPPA by testing 2, 071 unselected samples. And CLIA seemed to be more sensitive than TPPA in detecting the samples of primary syphilis.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>CLIA is easy to perform and the indicator results are objective and unequivocal. It may be suitable for large-scale screening as a treponemal test substituted for TPPA.</p

Bionic Duplication of Fresh Navodon septentrionalis

Biomimetic superhydrophobic surface was fabricated by replicating topography of the fresh fish skin surface of Navodon septentrionalis with polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) elastomer. A two-step replicating method was developed to make the surface structure of the fresh fish skin be replicated with high fidelity. After duplication, it was found that the static contact angle of the replica was as large as 173°. Theoretic analysis based on Young's and Cassie-Baxter (C-B) model was performed to explain the relationship between structure and hydrophobicity

Computing Offloading for RIS-Aided Internet of Everything:A Cybertwin Version

Cybertwin technology introduces a novel paradigm employing digital twins to model complex physical systems within a cyber environment, thus enhancing communication, collaboration, and decision-making capabilities. By harnessing advanced technologies, such as reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RISs) and multi-access edge computing (MEC), seamless interaction between physical and virtual entities is facilitated. In this paper, we propose a cybertwin-driven edge computing framework that leverages RIS technology, complemented by an efficient computing offloading strategy to support largescale Internet of Everything (IoE) applications. Specifically, the proposed strategy focuses on a multi-cell system where numerous randomly distributed end users have the option to offload delay-sensitive and computing-intensive tasks to edge computing nodes. The offloading channels are enhanced by RISs through passive beamforming, while cybertwin technology directs resource cooperation among multi-cells and allocates computing and communication resources. Our main objective is to optimize the system’s utility with respect to task completion latency and energy consumption reduction. To achieve this goal, we conduct the joint optimization of task offloading and resource allocation. Furthermore, we develop a joint task offloading and resource allocation (JTORA) algorithm to derive optimal solutions for passive beamforming design, computing offloading decisions, communication resource scheduling, and computing capacity allocation. The simulation results demonstrate the superiority of the proposed algorithm over benchmark schemes in terms of edge computing efficiency. Furthermore, the system utility can be further enhanced by increasing the number of embedded RIS elements

Photometric Metallicity Calibration with SDSS and SCUSS and its Application to distant stars in the South Galactic Cap

Based on SDSS g, r and SCUSS (South Galactic Cap of u-band Sky Survey) $u$ photometry, we develop a photometric calibration for estimating the stellar metallicity from $u-g$ and $g-r$ colors by using the SDSS spectra of 32,542 F- and G-type main sequence stars, which cover almost $3700$ deg$^{2}$ in the south Galactic cap. The rms scatter of the photometric metallicity residuals relative to spectrum-based metallicity is $0.14$ dex when $g-r<0.4$, and $0.16$ dex when $g-r>0.4$. Due to the deeper and more accurate magnitude of SCUSS $u$ band, the estimate can be used up to the faint magnitude of $g=21$. This application range of photometric metallicity calibration is wide enough so that it can be used to study metallicity distribution of distant stars. In this study, we select the Sagittarius (Sgr) stream and its neighboring field halo stars in south Galactic cap to study their metallicity distribution. We find that the Sgr stream at the cylindrical Galactocentric coordinate of $R\sim 19$ kpc, $\left| z\right| \sim 14$ kpc exhibits a relative rich metallicity distribution, and the neighboring field halo stars in our studied fields can be modeled by two-Gaussian model, with peaks respectively at [Fe/H]$=-1.9$ and [Fe/H]$=-1.5$.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figures, Accepted for publication in MNRA

The association between FGF21 and diabetic erectile dysfunction: Evidence from clinical and animal studies

Erectile dysfunction (ED), a complication of diabetes mellitus (DM), affects 50–75% of men with diabetes. Fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21) is a liver-derived metabolic regulator which plays a role in insulin-independent glucose uptake in adipocytes. We designed a clinical study and an animal experiment to investigate the relationship between FGF21 and DM-induced ED. The clinical study enrolled 93 participants aged \u3e 18 years (61 patients with type 2 DM and 32 healthy controls) from Taian City Central Hospital (TCCH) in Shandong Province, China, amongst whom the association between serum FGF21 and diabetic ED was analyzed. To further validate this association, we developed animal model of diabetic ED using Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats. Serum FGF21 concentration and FGF21 mRNA expression in penile samples of the rats were determined with Western blotting and quantitative real-time PCR. Among the 93 participants, the level of serum FGF21 was negatively correlated with the IIEF-5 score (r = -0.74, P \u3c 0.001). The analysis on the performance of FGF21 for ED diagnosis showed that the area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was 0.875 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.803 to 0.946). In the animal experiment, the levels of serum FGF21, 2-Δ Δ Ct values of FGF21 mRNA expression, and relative levels of FGF21 in penile samples were higher in the ED group compared to the DM and control groups. Our findings demonstrated an association between the FGF21 level and diabetic ED, indicating the potential of this cytokine in predicting diabetic ED

Robust passivity and passification of stochastic fuzzy time-delay systems

The official published version can be obtained from the link below.In this paper, the passivity and passification problems are investigated for a class of uncertain stochastic fuzzy systems with time-varying delays. The fuzzy system is based on the Takagi–Sugeno (T–S) model that is often used to represent the complex nonlinear systems in terms of fuzzy sets and fuzzy reasoning. To reflect more realistic dynamical behaviors of the system, both the parameter uncertainties and the stochastic disturbances are considered, where the parameter uncertainties enter into all the system matrices and the stochastic disturbances are given in the form of a Brownian motion. We first propose the definition of robust passivity in the sense of expectation. Then, by utilizing the Lyapunov functional method, the Itô differential rule and the matrix analysis techniques, we establish several sufficient criteria such that, for all admissible parameter uncertainties and stochastic disturbances, the closed-loop stochastic fuzzy time-delay system is robustly passive in the sense of expectation. The derived criteria, which are either delay-independent or delay-dependent, are expressed in terms of linear matrix inequalities (LMIs) that can be easily checked by using the standard numerical software. Illustrative examples are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness and usefulness of the proposed results.This work was supported by the Teaching and Research Fund for Excellent Young Teachers at Southeast University of China, the Specialized Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education for New Teachers 200802861044, the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant 60804028 and the Royal Society of the United Kingdom