The status change of culture and education in the traditional Chinese city landscape after the Song and Yuan Dynasty

After the Song and Yuan dynasties, the development of the imperial examination system was witnessed by the spread of the Neo-Confucianism of the Song and Ming dynasties. This was accompanied by the position of culture and education buildings in the local urban landscape system that was greatly improved, some even dominating the performance of the urban landscape. The resulted structure of the urban landscape before the Song Dynasty is described as the so-called status change of the "The Status Change of Culture and Education." Studies have shown that "The Status Change" during the Ming and Qing Dynasties could be found here and there. This work took the City of Yangzhou Prefecture in the Ming and Qing Dynasties as the research object. Starting from the background of the development of culture and education, this paper expounds the process and characteristics of such a status change during this period

Ion irradiation-induced bimodal surface morphology changes in InSb

High-energy ion irradiation of InSb results in the formation of bimodal surface structures, namely microscale hillock-like structures fully composed of nanoscale fibers. Analysis of the surface structures by a wide range of electron microscopy techniques reveals correlations between the irradiation conditions, such as the ion energy and fluence, and changes in the surface morphology. Sputtering effects play a key role in the integrity of the surface layer with increasing ion fluence. Possible mechanisms responsible for the morphological transformation are discussed, including both irradiation-induced and mechanical effects.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/85399/1/nano10_32_325602.pd

A Survey of What to Share in Federated Learning: Perspectives on Model Utility, Privacy Leakage, and Communication Efficiency

Federated learning (FL) has emerged as a highly effective paradigm for privacy-preserving collaborative training among different parties. Unlike traditional centralized learning, which requires collecting data from each party, FL allows clients to share privacy-preserving information without exposing private datasets. This approach not only guarantees enhanced privacy protection but also facilitates more efficient and secure collaboration among multiple participants. Therefore, FL has gained considerable attention from researchers, promoting numerous surveys to summarize the related works. However, the majority of these surveys concentrate on methods sharing model parameters during the training process, while overlooking the potential of sharing other forms of local information. In this paper, we present a systematic survey from a new perspective, i.e., what to share in FL, with an emphasis on the model utility, privacy leakage, and communication efficiency. This survey differs from previous ones due to four distinct contributions. First, we present a new taxonomy of FL methods in terms of the sharing methods, which includes three categories of shared information: model sharing, synthetic data sharing, and knowledge sharing. Second, we analyze the vulnerability of different sharing methods to privacy attacks and review the defense mechanisms that provide certain privacy guarantees. Third, we conduct extensive experiments to compare the performance and communication overhead of various sharing methods in FL. Besides, we assess the potential privacy leakage through model inversion and membership inference attacks, while comparing the effectiveness of various defense approaches. Finally, we discuss potential deficiencies in current methods and outline future directions for improvement

Structural and abnormal electrical properties of excess PbO-doped lead lanthanum titanate thin films

Lead lanthanum titanate (PLT) thin films with excess PbO (from 0 to 20 mol%) were prepared by a metal-organic decomposition process. The ferroelectric properties and current-voltage (C -V ) characteristics of PLT films were investigated as a function of the excess PbO. Abnormal ferroelectric and C -V properties were observed in PLT films with excess PbO. The polarization against applied electric field (P -E ) hysteresis loops were pinched before saturation of polarization of the films, and C -V curves had four peaks instead of the two peaks found in the normal C -V curves. The abnormal level of the hysteresis loops and C -V curves deteriorate with increasing concentrations of excess PbO in the films. Electron probe microanalysis has revealed that there is excess Pb in PLT thin films. Auger electron spectroscopy has detected that the Pb accumulates at the interfaces between the thin film and the bottom electrode. Meanwhile, transmission electron microscopy has found that PbO nanocrystals on the interface between the PLT thin film and the bottom electrode, and clusters of vacancies and interstitials, in particular, exist in the PLT grains. Therefore, a part of the excess PbO may accumulate at the domain wall of the grains and the grain boundaries and the interface between the bottom electrode and film during the thermal annealing process of the films. Meanwhile, the oxygen vacancies of the grains will increase with the increasing concentration of the excess PbO in the films. The excess PbO and oxygen vacancies act as pinning centres and have a strong pinning effect on the domains. When the poling voltage is not large enough, part of the domains can overcome the force of the pinning, and abnormal ferroelectric and C -V properties were observed.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/48906/2/d00703.pd

Disorder in Mn+1AXn phases at the atomic scale.

Atomic disordering in materials alters their physical and chemical properties and can subsequently affect their performance. In complex ceramic materials, it is a challenge to understand the nature of structural disordering, due to the difficulty of direct, atomic-scale experimental observations. Here we report the direct imaging of ion irradiation-induced antisite defects in Mn+1AXn phases using double CS-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy and provide compelling evidence of order-to-disorder phase transformations, overturning the conventional view that irradiation causes phase decomposition to binary fcc-structured Mn+1Xn. With the formation of uniformly distributed cation antisite defects and the rearrangement of X anions, disordered solid solution γ-(Mn+1A)Xn phases are formed at low ion fluences, followed by gradual transitions to solid solution fcc-structured (Mn+1A)Xn phases. This study provides a comprehensive understanding of the order-to-disorder transformations in Mn+1AXn phases and proposes a method for the synthesis of new solid solution (Mn+1A)Xn phases by tailoring the disorder

Influence of a groove-structured vortex generator on the drag reduction characteristics of a multiphase pump

The oil–gas mixture pump significantly contributes to marginal oil field extraction and remote transportation of deep-sea oil. Nevertheless, during the operation of the mixture pump, it is inevitable to encounter problems like the separation of the mixed media from the hydraulic components as well as the gas phase from the liquid phase, which leads to enhancing the flow resistance of the mixed media. Therefore, this study investigates the influence of a groove-structure vortex generator on the drag reduction characteristics of a helical axial-flow gas–liquid multiphase pump under the design flow rate condition and various inlet gas content rates. The findings show that the vortex generator with diverse groove depths can prevent the separation of the mixed media from the blade suction surface effectively and minimize the flow resistance of the media in the 1/10 of the blade inlet. In particular, excellent drag reduction results were gained with a maximum drag reduction rate of 36.7% when the relative depth was 3/40. In addition, the efficiency of the mixture pump increased by a maximum of 2.1%, and the head increased by a maximum of 4.3%. The significance of this study lies in its potential to further optimize the design and performance of gas–liquid multiphase pumps. It provides new insights into the design and application of vortex generators. It offers robust support for the optimization and enhancement of gas–liquid multiphase pumps

The anti-biofilm effect of silver-nanoparticle-decorated quercetin nanoparticles on a multi-drug resistant Escherichia coli strain isolated from a dairy cow with mastitis

Background Escherichia coli is an important opportunistic pathogen that could cause inflammation of the udder in dairy cows resulting in reduced milk production and changes in milk composition and quality, and even death of dairy cows. Therefore, mastitis is the main health issue which leads to major economic losses on dairy farms. Antibiotics are routinely used for the treatment of bovine mastitis. The ability to form biofilm increases the antibiotic resistance of E. coli. Nanoparticles (NPs), a nanosized, safe, and highly cost-effective antibacterial agent, are potential biomedical tools. Given their antibacterial activities, silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) have a broad range of applications. Methods In this study, we performed antibacterial activity assays, biofilm formation assays, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) experiments, and real-time reverse transcription PCR (RT-PCR) experiments to investigate the antibacterial and anti-biofilm effect of quercetin, Ag NPs, and Silver-nanoparticle-decorated quercetin nanoparticles (QA NPs) in E. coli strain ECDCM1. Results In this study, QA NPs, a composite material combining Ag NPs and the plant-derived drug component quercetin, exhibited stronger antibacterial and anti-biofilm properties in a multi-drug resistant E. coli strain isolated from a dairy cow with mastitis, compared to Ag NPs and Qe. Discussion This study provides evidence that QA NPs possess high antibacterial and anti-biofilm activities. They proved to be more effective than Ag NPs and Qe against the biofilm formation of a multi-drug resistant E. coli isolated from cows with mastitis. This suggests that QA NPs might be used as a potential antimicrobial agent in the treatment of bovine mastitis caused by E. coli

Human amnion-derived mesenchymal stem cells attenuate acute lung injury in two different acute lung injury mice models

Acute lung injury (ALI) is one of the most common clinical emergencies with limited effective pharmaceutical treatment in the clinic, especially when it progresses to acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Currently, mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) exhibit specific superiority for ALI/ARDS treatment. However, stem cells from different sources may result in controversial effects on similar disease conditions. This study aimed to determine the effects of human amnion-derived mesenchymal stem cells (hAMSCs) on two different ALI mice model. The administered hAMSCs effectively accumulated in the lung tissues in all hAMSC-treated groups. Compared with the model and 1% human serum albumin (HSA) groups, high-dose hAMSCs (1.0 × 106 cells) group significantly alleviated alveolar-capillary permeability, oxidative stress, inflammatory factors level and histopathological damage. In addition, the NF-κB signaling pathway is one of the key pathways activated during lipopolysaccharide (LPS) or paraquat (PQ)-induced lung injury. Our results indicated that hAMSCs (1.0 × 106 cells) obviously inhibited the expression of p-IKKα/β, p-IκBα, and p-p65 in the lung tissue (p < 0.05). The high-dose (HD) hAMSC treatment exerted beneficial therapeutic effects on ALI mice models without detectable adverse reactions. The therapeutic effect of hAMSCs might involve NF-κB signaling pathway inhibition. hAMSC treatment is a potential candidate therapy for ALI

Irradiation- Induced Extremes Create Hierarchical Face- /Body- Centered- Cubic Phases in Nanostructured High Entropy Alloys

A nanoscale hierarchical dual- phase structure is reported to form in a nanocrystalline NiFeCoCrCu high- entropy- alloy (HEA) film via ion irradiation. Under the extreme energy deposition and consequent thermal energy dissipation induced by energetic particles, a fundamentally new phenomenon is revealed, in which the original single- phase face- centered- cubic (FCC) structure partially transforms into alternating nanometer layers of a body- centered- cubic (BCC) structure. The orientation relationship follows the Nishiyama- Wasser- man relationship, that is, (011)BCC || (- 1¯1¯1)FCC and [100]BCC || [- 11¯0]FCC. Simulation results indicate that Cr, as a BCC stabilizing element, exhibits a tendency to segregate to the stacking faults (SFs). Furthermore, the high densities of SFs and twin boundaries in each nanocrystalline grain serve to accelerate the nucleation and growth of the BCC phase during irradiation. By adjusting the irradiation parameters, desired thicknesses of the FCC and BCC phases in the laminates can be achieved. This work demonstrates the controlled formation of an attractive dual- phase nanolaminate structure under ion irradiation and provides a strategy for designing new derivate structures of HEAs.A nanoscale hierarchical dual- phase structure is reported to form in a nanocrystalline NiFeCoCrCu high- entropy- alloy film via ion- irradiation- induced face- centered- cubic to body- centered- cubic phase transformation. Both kinetic and thermodynamic conditions for the phase transformation are explored. The results provide a new strategy for tailoring material structures on the nanometer or sub- nanometer scales.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/162803/3/adma202002652_am.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/162803/2/adma202002652.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/162803/1/adma202002652-sup-0001-SuppMat.pd