Progress and prospects for accelerating materials science with automated and autonomous workflows

Accelerating materials research by integrating automation with artificial intelligence is increasingly recognized as a grand scientific challenge to discover and develop materials for emerging and future technologies. While the solid state materials science community has demonstrated a broad range of high throughput methods and effectively leveraged computational techniques to accelerate individual research tasks, revolutionary acceleration of materials discovery has yet to be fully realized. This perspective review presents a framework and ontology to outline a materials experiment lifecycle and visualize materials discovery workflows, providing a context for mapping the realized levels of automation and the next generation of autonomous loops in terms of scientific and automation complexity. Expanding autonomous loops to encompass larger portions of complex workflows will require integration of a range of experimental techniques as well as automation of expert decisions, including subtle reasoning about data quality, responses to unexpected data, and model design. Recent demonstrations of workflows that integrate multiple techniques and include autonomous loops, combined with emerging advancements in artificial intelligence and high throughput experimentation, signal the imminence of a revolution in materials discovery

Progress and prospects for accelerating materials science with automated and autonomous workflows

Accelerating materials research by integrating automation with artificial intelligence is increasingly recognized as a grand scientific challenge to discover and develop materials for emerging and future technologies. While the solid state materials science community has demonstrated a broad range of high throughput methods and effectively leveraged computational techniques to accelerate individual research tasks, revolutionary acceleration of materials discovery has yet to be fully realized. This perspective review presents a framework and ontology to outline a materials experiment lifecycle and visualize materials discovery workflows, providing a context for mapping the realized levels of automation and the next generation of autonomous loops in terms of scientific and automation complexity. Expanding autonomous loops to encompass larger portions of complex workflows will require integration of a range of experimental techniques as well as automation of expert decisions, including subtle reasoning about data quality, responses to unexpected data, and model design. Recent demonstrations of workflows that integrate multiple techniques and include autonomous loops, combined with emerging advancements in artificial intelligence and high throughput experimentation, signal the imminence of a revolution in materials discovery

Sr and Nd isotope data for arc-related (meta) volcanics (SW Iberia)

In the southern sector of the Ossa-Morena Zone (Iberian Variscan Chain), along its boundaries with the Beja-Acebuches Ophiolite and the South-Portuguese Zone, Upper Palaeozoic igneous mafic and intermediate rocks, both intrusive and extrusive, are widely represented. The so-called Odivelas Unit (Andrade,1983), include (meta-) basalts and (meta-) andesites, which, according with previous studies, display low-K tholeiitic to calc-alkaline signatures and, therefore, are interpreted as remnants of an active margin volcanic arc. Santos et al. (1990) subdivided those volcanics into two groups: in Alfundão-Peroguarda, the tholeiitic nature is dominant; in Odivelas-Penique, the calc-alkaline signature becomes more pronounced. Intercalation of limestone layers provided some age constraints, showing that the subduction-related volcanic activity in the studied area began in the Lower Devonian and continued, at least, through the Middle Devonian (Conde & Andrade, 1974; Machado et al., 2010). In this work, samples previously studied by Santos et al. (1990) and Silva et al. (2011) were analysed for Sm-Nd and Rb-Sr isotopes. Considering that the volcanics were systematically affected by hydrothermal metamorphism, it is expected that the Sr signatures show significant disturbance. In contrast, Nd isotope ratios probably reflect the primary features. Alfundão-Peroguarda samples show a very limited range of positive initial εNd, from +5.1 to +4.3 (assuming 400 Ma), showing no evidence for significant crustal assimilation and, therefore, allowing the attribution of negative Nb and Ta anomalies to arc-related processes On the other hand, 87Sr/86Sr varies from 0.7044 to 0.7060 (for 400Ma). These samples rocks define a horizontal trend on the initial εNd vs. initial 87Sr/86Sr plot, typical of co-genetic rocks that underwent interaction with seawater. On the other hand, Odivelas-Penique volcanics show wide spectra for both initial 87Sr/86Sr (from 0.7038 to 0.7066) and εNd (from +4.6 to -4.1). Significantly, the highest εNd values for this group are within the narrow range defined by Alfundão-Peroguarda tholeiitic basalts, suggesting a common mantle source (or very similar sources) for the most mafic magmas of both sectors. The whole set of Nd isotope ratios supports the distinction previously proposed between the two groups of volcanics. In addition, the variation from positive to negative initial εNd values in the Odivelas-Penique suite shows that its geochemical features were likely influenced by assimilation of continental crustal material

Combinatorial screening yields discovery of 29 metal oxide photoanodes for solar fuel generation

Combinatorial synthesis combined with high throughput electrochemistry enabled discovery of 29 ternary oxide photoanodes, 15 with visible light response for oxygen evolution. Y₃Fe₅O₁₂ and trigonal V₂CoO₆ emerge as particularly promising candidates due to their photorepsonse at sub-2.4 eV illumination

Hearing as an Independent Predictor of Postural Balance in 1075 Patients Evaluated for Dizziness

Objective To evaluate the association between hearing and postural balance. Study Design Retrospective cross-sectional study. Setting Tertiary care otolaryngology clinic. Subjects and Methods Patients examined for suspected vestibular disorder were included in this study. The outcome variable was postural sway measured by static posturography during quiet standing with eyes closed. The predictor variable was pure-tone average hearing threshold on the best hearing ear at 0.5, 1, 2, and 3 kHz. Covariates were age, sex, and vestibular disease or vestibular asymmetry assessed by bithermal caloric irrigation. Results In total, 1075 patients were included. Increased hearing threshold was a strong predictor of increased postural sway (path length) after correcting for age and sex. A 10-dB increase in hearing loss on the best hearing ear predicted a mean 6.0% increase in path length (confidence interval, 2.9%-9.3%, P < .001). Of the covariates, increasing age (P < .001) and male sex (P = .009) were significant predictors of increased postural sway. The effect of increased hearing threshold was also significant after adjusting for vestibular disease. Conclusion Increased hearing threshold was an independent predictor of increased postural instability, and this effect was strongest for the best hearing ear. Unilateral vestibular disease did not seem to explain this association between hearing and postural balance. Reduced hearing is associated with impaired balance, and interventions to prevent falls should be considered for patients at risk.acceptedVersio