Composite metamaterials with dual-band magnetic resonances in the terahertz frequency regime

Composite metamaterials(CMMs) combining a subwavelength metallic hole array (i.e. one-layer fishnet structure) and an array of split-ring resonators(SRRs) on the same board are fabricated with gold films on silicon wafer. Transmission measurements of the CMMs in the terahertz range have been performed. Dual-band magnetic resonances, namely, a LC resonance at 4.40 THz and an additional magnetic resonance at 8.64 THz originating from the antiparallel current in wire pairs in the CMMs are observed when the electrical field polarization of the incident light is parallel to the gap of the component SRR. The numerical simulations agree well with the experimental results and further clarify the nature of the dual-band magnetic resonances.Comment: 4 figures, 14 page

Regulation of Two-Dimensional Lattice Deformation Recovery

The lattice directly determines the electronic structure, and it enables controllably tailoring the properties by deforming the lattices of two-dimensional (2D)materials. Owing to the unbalanced electrostatic equilibrium among the dislocated atoms, the deformed lattice is thermodynamically unstable and would recover to the initial state. Here, we demonstrate that the recovery of deformed 2D lattices could be directly regulated via doping metal donors to reconstruct electrostatic equilibrium. Compared with the methods that employed external force fields with intrinsic instability and nonuniformity, the stretched 2D molybdenum diselenide (MoSe2)could be uniformly retained and permanently preserved via doping metal atoms with more outermost electrons and smaller electronegativity than Mo. We believe that the proposed strategy could open up a new avenue in directly regulating the atomic-thickness lattice and promote its practical applications based on 2D crystals. © 2019 The Author(s

Micro-reflectance and transmittance spectroscopy: a versatile and powerful tool to characterize 2D materials

Optical spectroscopy techniques such as differential reflectance and transmittance have proven to be very powerful techniques to study 2D materials. However, a thorough description of the experimental setups needed to carry out these measurements is lacking in the literature. We describe a versatile optical microscope setup to carry out differential reflectance and transmittance spectroscopy in 2D materials with a lateral resolution of ~1 micron in the visible and near-infrared part of the spectrum. We demonstrate the potential of the presented setup to determine the number of layers of 2D materials and to characterize their fundamental optical properties such as excitonic resonances. We illustrate its performance by studying mechanically exfoliated and chemical vapor-deposited transition metal dichalcogenide samples.Comment: 5 main text figures + 1 table with all the part numbers to replicate the experimental setup + 4 supp. info. figure

A biophoton method for identifying the quality states of fresh Chinese herbs

Introduction: The quality of Chinese herbs is the basis for ensuring their safety and efficacy. However, the quality evaluation system is imperfect. In particular, there is a lack of quality evaluation methods for fresh Chinese herbs during growth. The biophoton is a common phenomenon and provides complete information about the interior of the living system, which is consistent with the holistic concept of traditional Chinese medicine. Therefore, we aim to correlate the biophoton characteristics with the quality states to find the biophoton parameters that can characterize the quality states of fresh Chinese herbs.Methods: The biophoton characteristics of motherwort and safflower were measured and characterized by the counts per second (CPS) in the steady state and the initial intensity (I0) and coherent time (T) of delayed luminescence. The active ingredient content was measured by ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography (UPLC). The pigment content of motherwort leaves was measured by UV spectrophotometry. The t-test and correlation analysis were performed on the experimental results.Results: The CPS and I0 of motherwort and I0 of safflower showed a significant downward trend during the growth process, and their active ingredient content showed a trend that increased and then decreased. The CPS, I0, and the content of active ingredients and pigments in a healthy state were significantly higher than those in a poor state, while T showed the opposite results. The CPS and I0 were all significantly and positively correlated with the content of active ingredients and pigments, while the T of motherwort showed the opposite results.Conclusion: It is feasible to identify the quality states of fresh Chinese herbs by using their biophoton characteristics. Both CPS and I0 have better correlations with the quality states and can be considered characteristic parameters of the quality of fresh Chinese herbs

Hypersonic Aerodynamic Force Balance Using Micromachined All-Fiber Fabry–Pérot Interferometric Strain Gauges

This paper presents high-sensitivity, micromachined all-fiber Fabry–Pérot interferometric (FFPI) strain gauges and their integration in a force balance for hypersonic aerodynamic measurements. The FFPI strain gauge has a short Fabry–Pérot cavity fabricated using an excimer laser etching process, and the deformation of the cavity is detected by a white-light optical phase demodulator. A three-component force balance, using the proposed FFPI gauges as sensing elements, was fabricated, calibrated, and experimentally evaluated. To reduce thermal output of the balance, a simple and effective self-temperature compensation solution, without external temperature sensors, is proposed and examined through both oven heating and wind tunnel runs. As a result of this approach, researchers are able to use the balance continuously throughout a wide range of temperatures. During preliminary testing in a hypersonic wind tunnel with a free stream Mach number of 12, the measurement accuracies of the balance were clearly improved after applying the temperature self-compensation

RGD v2.0: A major update of the ruminant functional and evolutionary genomics database

Ruminant Genome Database (RGD; http://animal.nwsuaf.edu.cn/RGD) provides visualization and analysis tools for ruminant comparative genomics and functional annotations. As more high-quality ruminant genome assemblies have become available, we have redesigned the user interface, integrated and expanded multi-omics data, and developed novel features to improve the database. The new version, RGD v2.0, houses 78 ruminant genomes; 110-species synteny alignments for major livestock (including cattle, sheep, goat) and wild ungulates; 21 012 orthologous gene clusters with Gene Ontology and pathway annotation; ∼8 600 000 conserved elements; and ∼1 000 000 cis-regulatory elements by utilizing 1053 epigenomic data sets. The transcriptome data in RGD v2.0 has nearly doubled, currently with 1936 RNA-seq data sets, and 155 174 phenotypic data sets have been newly added. New and updated features include: (i) The UCSC Genome Browser, BLAT, BLAST and Table Browser tools were updated for six available ruminant livestock species. (ii) The LiftOver tool was newly introduced into our browser to allow coordinate conversion between different ruminant assemblies. And (iii) tissue specificity index, tau, was calculated to facilitate batch screening of specifically expressed genes. The enhanced genome annotations and improved functionality in RGD v2.0 will be useful for study of genome evolution, environmental adaption, livestock breeding and biomedicine

Data from: Genome sequence and virulence variation-related transcriptome profiles of Curvularia lunata, an important maize pathogenic fungus

Background: Curvularia lunata is an important maize foliar fungal pathogen that distributes widely in maize growing area in China. Genome sequencing of the pathogen will provide important information for globally understanding its virulence mechanism. Results: We report the genome sequences of a highly virulent C. lunata strain. Phylogenomic analysis indicates that C. lunata was evolved from Bipolaris maydis (Cochliobolus heterostrophus). The highly virulent strain has a high potential to evolve into other pathogenic stains based on analyses on transposases and repeat-induced point mutations. C. lunata has a smaller proportion of secreted proteins as well as B. maydis than entomopathogenic fungi. C. lunata and B. maydis have a similar proportion of protein-encoding genes highly homologous to experimentally proven pathogenic genes from pathogen-host interaction database. However, relative to B. maydis, C. lunata possesses not only many expanded protein families including MFS transporters, G-protein coupled receptors, protein kinases and proteases for transport, signal transduction or degradation, but also many contracted families including cytochrome P450, lipases, glycoside hydrolases and polyketide synthases for detoxification, hydrolysis or secondary metabolites biosynthesis, which are expected to be crucial for the fungal survival in varied stress environments. Comparative transcriptome analysis between a lowly virulent C. lunata strain and its virulence-increased variant induced by resistant host selection reveals that the virulence increase of the pathogen is related to pathways of toxin and melanin biosynthesis in stress environments, and that the two pathways probably have some overlaps. Conclusions: The data will facilitate a full revelation of pathogenic mechanism and a better understanding of virulence differentiation of C. lunata

Automatic Generation Construction Shop Design Model of the MEP Hanger Based on BIM

Due to the growing complexity of mechanical, electrical and plumbing (MEP) functions, the design, production and installation of hanger based on MEP has become low efficiency in traditional ways. Compared with the Computer-Aided Design (CAD) approach, the MEP hanger three-dimensional (3D) design approach has not received adequate attention in the process of engineering practice. Based on Building Information Modeling (BIM) and Revit secondary development technology, an automatic generation construction shop design model system of MEP hanger (MEP hanger-CDM) for the quick placement of hanger components, automatic grouping of hanger components and hanger component constructability checking was developed. By conducting investigations with the construction companies and construction sites in China, four basic forms of MEP hanger layouts were identified to accommodate different types of MEP layouts. In addition, the design requirements of the family of LOD 400 BIM models were summarized along with the analysis of user requirements. The results of the case studies indicate a 70% reduction in the manpower number on the MEP hanger shop design and an 85.9% reduction in the number of working hours. Moreover, the efficiency of the hanger construction model design and the accuracy of the output of material lists and shop drawings could be improved. Thus, the process of designing MEP hanger could be optimized in a visualized method