Progress in pulsed laser deposited two-dimensional layered materials for device applications

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A Judicial Postscript to the Church-State Debates of 1989: How Porous the Wall, How Civil the State?

This work is a continuation of the debate regarding the Establishment Clause. The focus lies with Justice O’Connor’s concurrence in County of Allegheny v. ACLU and how this opinion harkens back to a concept shared by Jefferson and Madison, that the establishment clause is designed to prevent government favoritism

Confidence intervals for tourism demand elasticity

2009-2010 > Academic research: refereed > Publication in refereed journalAccepted ManuscriptPublishe

Rationalizing accurate structure prediction in the meta-GGA SCAN functional

The ability of first-principles computational methods to reproduce ground-state crystal structure selection is key to their application in the discovery of new materials, and yet presents a formidable challenge due to the low-energy scale of the problem and lack of systematic error cancellation. The recently developed Strongly Constrained and Appropriately Normed (SCAN) functional is notable for accurately calculating physical properties such as formation energies and in particular, correctly predicting ground-state structures. Here, we attempt to rationalize the improved structure prediction accuracy in SCAN by investigating the relationship between preferred coordination environments, the description of attractive van der Waals (vdW) interactions, and the overall ground-state prediction in bulk main-group solids. We observe a systematic undercoordination error in the traditional Perdew, Burke, and Ernzerhof (PBE) functional which is not present in SCAN results and find that semiempirical dispersion corrections in the form of PBE+D3 fail to correct this error in a consistent or physical manner. We conclude that the medium-range vdW interaction is correctly parametrized in SCAN and yields meaningful relative energies between coordination environments

Neoproterozoic Mafic-Ultramafic Intrusions from the Fanjingshan Region, South China: Implications for Subduction-Related Magmatism in the Jiangnan Fold Belt

published_or_final_versio

Nanofibers Fabricated Using Triaxial Electrospinning as Zero Order Drug Delivery Systems

A new strategy for creating functional trilayer nanofibers through triaxial electrospinning is demonstrated. Ethyl cellulose (EC) was used as the filament-forming matrix in the outer, middle, and inner working solutions and was combined with varied contents of the model active ingredient ketoprofen (KET) in the three fluids. Triaxial electrospinning was successfully carried out to generate medicated nanofibers. The resultant nanofibers had diameters of 0.74 ± 0.06 μm, linear morphologies, smooth surfaces, and clear trilayer nanostructures. The KET concentration in each layer gradually increased from the outer to the inner layer. In vitro dissolution tests demonstrated that the nanofibers could provide linear release of KET over 20 h. The protocol reported in this study thus provides a facile approach to creating functional nanofibers with sophisticated structural features

Patterning of ferroelectric nanodot arrays using a silicon nitride shadow mask

We grew well-ordered arrays of ferroelectric Pb (Zr0.2 Ti0.8) O3 (PZT) nanodots on a SrRu O3 SrTi O3 substrate by pulsed laser deposition. A silicon nitride shadow mask with ordered holes was used for patterning of the PZT arrays. Each dot has a height of ???15 nm and a diameter of ???120 nm with a similar dome shape over a large area. The ferroelectric properties of individual PZT dots were investigated by piezoresponse force microscopy. A single dot could be polarized individually and the polarized state remained unrelaxed to ???20 min.open232

Benchmark performance of low-cost Sb2Se3 photocathodes for unassisted solar overall water splitting

Determining cost-effective semiconductors exhibiting desirable properties for commercial photoelectrochemical water splitting remains a challenge. Herein, we report a Sb2Se3 semiconductor that satisfies most requirements for an ideal high-performance photoelectrode, including a small band gap and favourable cost, optoelectronic properties, processability, and photocorrosion stability. Strong anisotropy, a major issue for Sb2Se3, is resolved by suppressing growth kinetics via close space sublimation to obtain high-quality compact thin films with favourable crystallographic orientation. The Sb2Se3 photocathode exhibits a high photocurrent density of almost 30mAcm(-2) at 0V against the reversible hydrogen electrode, the highest value so far. We demonstrate unassisted solar overall water splitting by combining the optimised Sb2Se3 photocathode with a BiVO4 photoanode, achieving a solar-to-hydrogen efficiency of 1.5% with stability over 10h under simulated 1 sun conditions employing a broad range of solar fluxes. Low-cost Sb2Se3 can thus be an attractive breakthrough material for commercial solar fuel production. While photoelectrochemical water splitting offers an integrated means to convert sunlight to a renewable fuel, cost-effective light-absorbers are rare. Here, authors report Sb2Se3 photocathodes for high-performance photoelectrochemical water splitting devices

华北克拉通北缘晚中生代火山岩Sr-Nd-Pb同位素填图及其构造意义

辽宁西部广泛分布着晚中生代火山岩，横跨华北克拉通和兴> 蒙造山带两大构造单元，一般认为它们是以在这一地区发育的两条主要断裂———西拉木伦河断裂和赤峰> 开源断裂为界。这些火山作用曾被认为是中生代伊泽奈崎板块西向或西北向消减作用的结果。在岩性上它们主要以中酸性岩石为主，玄武岩等中基性岩石较少。为查明下伏岩石圈对这些岩浆作用成因的影响，对其中的SiO2 含量 开源断裂两侧为界，两侧火山岩的同位素特征存在显著区别。南区有明显的EMI 特征并具EMI-PM 混合趋势，而北区则显示了原始或略亏损的特征。南北两区之间的过渡带（介于西拉木伦河断裂和赤峰> 开源断裂之间）则表现了同位素组成上相应的过渡特征。这一地球化学观测与已有的地质和地球物理资料颇为吻合。基于新生代幔源岩石化学反演的中国东部陆下地幔化学区划研究揭示了克拉通下(subcratonic)岩石圈地幔与EMI 存在着密切关系。本研究所提供的地球化学证据说明了采用中生代中基性岩类作为类似研究途径的可行性，并进一步提出对华北克拉通边缘中生代火山作用成因另一种可能的解释，即古消减带物质的活化有可能对华北北缘火山岩源区物质组成产生重要影响。Late Mesozoic volcanic rocks are extensively spread on both sides of northern margin of the North China Craton (NCC), where is the boundary between an Archean craton to the south and a Paleozoic orogenic belt, Xing an- Mongolia Orogenic Belt (XMOB), to the north. Two major east- west trending faults, Kaiyuan- Chifeng Fault (KCF) and Xar Moron He Fault (XHF) develop in this margin zone as a boundary between two tectonic domains. The volcanism has been thought to be the magmatic response to the west- , or no...published_or_final_versio

Tai Chi for Chronic Pain Conditions: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials

Several studies reported that Tai Chi showed potential effects for chronic pain, but its role remains controversial. This review assessed the evidence regarding the effects of Tai Chi for chronic pain conditions. 18 randomized controlled trials were included in our review. The aggregated results have indicated that Tai Chi showed positive evidence on immediate relief of chronic pain from osteoarthritis (standardized mean difference [SMD],-0.54; 95% confidence intervals [CI],-0.77 to-0.30; P < 0.05). The valid duration of Tai Chi practice for osteoarthritis may be more than 5 weeks. And there were some beneficial evidences regarding the effects of Tai Chi on immediate relief of chronic pain from low back pain (SMD,-0.81; 95% CI,-1.11 to-0.52; P < 0.05) and osteoporosis (SMD,-0.83; 95% CI,-1.37 to-0.28; P = 0.003). Therefore, clinicians may consider Tai Chi as a viable complementary and alternative medicine for chronic pain conditions