Broadband cloaking using composite dielectrics

In this paper, we present a novel cloaking structure that is able to make a metallic block invisible in a metallic waveguide. Such a cloak is made up of a stack of commonly used dielectric slabs. We carry out the numerical simulation and observe the detour of the vector Poynting power through the cloak. Moreover, the experiment is conducted for measuring the scattering characteristics including the reflection and transmission coefficients. The great improvement in the transmission coefficient in a broad bandwidth after cloaking is demonstrated. Significantly, the theory of mode conversion is developed for explaining the cloaking phenomenon

Scattering characteristics of cylindrical metamaterials

This paper reports the scattering of electromagnetic plane wave by annular metamaterials composed of concentric regular dielectric layers of infinite length. Interestingly, in certain frequency ranges, their scattering properties are similar to those of a perfect electric conductor cylinder, except that the tangential electric field on their surfaces does not vanish. Moreover, the frequency bands of total reflection spectra can be rigorously predicted using Floquet–Bloch theorem

Guidelines for the use and interpretation of assays for monitoring autophagy (4th edition)

In 2008, we published the first set of guidelines for standardizing research in autophagy. Since then, this topic has received increasing attention, and many scientists have entered the field. Our knowledge base and relevant new technologies have also been expanding. Thus, it is important to formulate on a regular basis updated guidelines for monitoring autophagy in different organisms. Despite numerous reviews, there continues to be confusion regarding acceptable methods to evaluate autophagy, especially in multicellular eukaryotes. Here, we present a set of guidelines for investigators to select and interpret methods to examine autophagy and related processes, and for reviewers to provide realistic and reasonable critiques of reports that are focused on these processes. These guidelines are not meant to be a dogmatic set of rules, because the appropriateness of any assay largely depends on the question being asked and the system being used. Moreover, no individual assay is perfect for every situation, calling for the use of multiple techniques to properly monitor autophagy in each experimental setting. Finally, several core components of the autophagy machinery have been implicated in distinct autophagic processes (canonical and noncanonical autophagy), implying that genetic approaches to block autophagy should rely on targeting two or more autophagy-related genes that ideally participate in distinct steps of the pathway. Along similar lines, because multiple proteins involved in autophagy also regulate other cellular pathways including apoptosis, not all of them can be used as a specific marker for bona fide autophagic responses. Here, we critically discuss current methods of assessing autophagy and the information they can, or cannot, provide. Our ultimate goal is to encourage intellectual and technical innovation in the field