Optical interface states protected by synthetic Weyl points

Weyl fermions have not been found in nature as elementary particles, but they emerge as nodal points in the band structure of electronic and classical wave crystals. Novel phenomena such as Fermi arcs and chiral anomaly have fueled the interest in these topological points which are frequently perceived as monopoles in momentum space. Here we report the experimental observation of generalized optical Weyl points inside the parameter space of a photonic crystal with a specially designed four-layer unit cell. The reflection at the surface of a truncated photonic crystal exhibits phase vortexes due to the synthetic Weyl points, which in turn guarantees the existence of interface states between photonic crystals and any reflecting substrates. The reflection phase vortexes have been confirmed for the first time in our experiments which serve as an experimental signature of the generalized Weyl points. The existence of these interface states is protected by the topological properties of the Weyl points and the trajectories of these states in the parameter space resembles those of Weyl semimetal "Fermi arcs surface states" in momentum space. Tracing the origin of interface states to the topological character of the parameter space paves the way for a rational design of strongly localized states with enhanced local field.Comment: 36 pages, 9 figures. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1610.0434

Semi-supervised Domain Adaptation in Graph Transfer Learning

As a specific case of graph transfer learning, unsupervised domain adaptation on graphs aims for knowledge transfer from label-rich source graphs to unlabeled target graphs. However, graphs with topology and attributes usually have considerable cross-domain disparity and there are numerous real-world scenarios where merely a subset of nodes are labeled in the source graph. This imposes critical challenges on graph transfer learning due to serious domain shifts and label scarcity. To address these challenges, we propose a method named Semi-supervised Graph Domain Adaptation (SGDA). To deal with the domain shift, we add adaptive shift parameters to each of the source nodes, which are trained in an adversarial manner to align the cross-domain distributions of node embedding, thus the node classifier trained on labeled source nodes can be transferred to the target nodes. Moreover, to address the label scarcity, we propose pseudo-labeling on unlabeled nodes, which improves classification on the target graph via measuring the posterior influence of nodes based on their relative position to the class centroids. Finally, extensive experiments on a range of publicly accessible datasets validate the effectiveness of our proposed SGDA in different experimental settings

Current status and factors influencing oral anticoagulant therapy among patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation in Jiangsu province, China: a multi-center, cross sectional study

Background: It has been reported that oral anticoagulation (OAC) is underused among Chinese patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF). Non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulants (NOAC) have been recommended by recent guidelines and have been covered since 2017 by the Chinese medical insurance; thus, the overall situation of anticoagulant therapy may change. The aim of this study was to explore the current status of anticoagulant therapy among Chinese patients with NVAF in Jiangsu province. Methods: This was a multi-center, cross-sectional study that was conducted in seven hospitals from January to September in 2017. The demographic characteristics and medical history of the patients were collected by questionnaire and from the medical records. Multivariate logistic regression was used to identify factors associated with anticoagulant therapy. Results: A total of 593 patients were included in the analysis. A total of 35.6% of the participants received OAC (11.1% NOAC and 24.5% warfarin). Of those patients with a high risk of stroke, 11.1% were on NOAC, 24.8% on warfarin, 30.6% on aspirin, and 33.6% were not on medication. Self-paying, duration of AF ≥5 years were negatively associated with anticoagulant therapy in all patients (OR 1.724, 95% CI 1.086~2.794; OR 1.471, 95% CI 1.006~2.149, respectively), whereas, permanent AF was positively associated with anticoagulant therapy (OR 0.424, 95% CI 0.215~0.839). Among patients with high risk of stroke, self-paying and increasing age were negatively associated with anticoagulant therapy (OR 2.305, 95% CI 1.186~4.478; OR 1.087, 95% CI 1.041~1.135, respectively). Conclusions: Anticoagulant therapy is positively associated with permanent AF and negatively associated with self-paying, duration of AF > 5 years. Furthermore, the current status of anticoagulant therapy among Chinese patients with NVAF in Jiangsu province does not appear optimistic. Therefore, further studies should focus on how to improve the rate of OAC use among NVAF patients. In addition, policy makers should pay attention to the economic situation of the patients with NVAF using NOAC

Methyl 4-(4-meth­oxy­phen­yl)-2-methyl-5-oxo-1,4,5,6,7,8-hexa­hydro­quinoline-3-carboxyl­ate

In the title compound, C19H21NO4, the dihydro­pyridine ring adopts a distorted screw-boat conformation. The fused cyclo­hexenone ring forms a slightly distorted envelope conformation. The dihedral angle between the mean planes of the benzene and heterocyclic rings is 86.1 (7)°. An intra­molecular C—H⋯O inter­action occurs. In the crystal, mol­ecules are linked by inter­molecular N—H⋯O hydrogen bonds, forming an infinite chain along the c axis

Topological sound

Recently, we witnessed a tremendous effort to conquer the realm of acoustics as a possible playground to test with topologically protected sound wave propagation. In this article, we review the latest efforts to explore with sound waves topological states of quantum matter in two- and three-dimensional systems where we discuss how spin and valley degrees of freedom appear as highly novel ingredients to tailor the flow of sound in the form of one-way edge modes and defect-immune protected acoustic waves. Both from a theoretical stand point and based on contemporary experimental verifications, we summarize the latest advancements of the flourishing research frontier on topological sound.X.J.Z. and L.M.H. are supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 11625418 and No. 51732006). M.X. is supported by the U. S. National Science Foundation (Grant No. CBET-1641069). Y.C. acknowledges the support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) (Grant Nos. 11834008,11874215, 11674172, and 11574148) and from the National Basic Research Program of China (Grant No. 2017YFA0303702). J.C. acknowledges the support from the European Research Council (ERC) through the Starting Grant No. 714577 PHONOMETA and from the MINECO through a Ramón y Cajal grant (Grant No. RYC-2015-17156

Astragaloside IV for Experimental Focal Cerebral Ischemia: Preclinical Evidence and Possible Mechanisms

Astragaloside IV (AST-IV) is a principal component of Radix Astragali seu Hedysari (Huangqi) and exerts potential neuroprotection in experimental ischemic stroke. Here, we systematically assessed the effectiveness and possible mechanisms of AST-IV for experimental acute ischemic stroke. An electronic search in eight databases was conducted from inception to March 2016. The study quality score was evaluated using the CAMARADES. Rev Man 5.0 software was used for data analyses. Thirteen studies with 244 animals were identified. The study quality score of included studies ranged from 3/10 to 8/10. Eleven studies showed significant effects of AST-IV for ameliorating the neurological function score (P<0.05); seven studies for reducing the infarct volume (P<0.05); and three or two studies for reducing the brain water content and Evans blue leakage (P<0.05), respectively, compared with the control. The mechanisms of AST-IV for ischemic stroke are multiple such as antioxidative/nitration stress reaction, anti-inflammatory, and antiapoptosis. In conclusion, the findings of present study indicated that AST-IV could improve neurological deficits and infarct volume and reduce the blood-brain barrier permeability in experimental cerebral ischemia despite some methodological flaws. Thus, AST-IV exerted a possible neuroprotective effect during the cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury largely through its antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and antiapoptosis properties

3-Hy­droxy-2-[(4-hy­droxy-3,5-dimeth­oxy­phen­yl)(2-hy­droxy-4,4-dimethyl-6-oxo­cyclo­hex-1-en-1-yl)meth­yl]-5,5-dimethyl­cyclo­hex-2-en-1-one

In the title compound, C25H32O7, the 3-hy­droxy-5,5-dimethyl­cyclo­hex-2-enone rings adopt slightly distorted envelope conformations with the two planes at the base of the envelope forming dihedral angles of 57.6 (4) and 53.9 (9)° with the benzene ring. There is an intra­molecular hy­droxy–ketone O—H⋯O inter­action between the two substituted cyclo­hexane rings as well as a short intra­molecular phenol–meth­oxy O—H⋯O inter­action

Empirical study on clique-degree distribution of networks

The community structure and motif-modular-network hierarchy are of great importance for understanding the relationship between structures and functions. In this paper, we investigate the distribution of clique-degree, which is an extension of degree and can be used to measure the density of cliques in networks. The empirical studies indicate the extensive existence of power-law clique-degree distributions in various real networks, and the power-law exponent decreases with the increasing of clique size.Comment: 9 figures, 4 page

The Plant Heat Stress Transcription Factors (HSFs): Structure, Regulation, and Function in Response to Abiotic Stresses

Abiotic stresses such as high temperature, salinity and drought adversely affect the survival, growth and reproduction of plants. Plants respond to such unfavorable changes through developmental, physiological and biochemical ways, and these responses require expression of stress-responsive genes, which are regulated by a network of transcription factors (TFs), including heat stress transcription factors (HSFs). HSFs play a crucial role in plants response to several abiotic stresses by regulating the expression of stress-responsive genes, such as heat shock proteins (Hsps). In this review, we describe the conserved structure of plant HSFs, the identification of HSF gene families from various plant species, their expression profiling under abiotic stress conditions, regulation at different levels and function in abiotic stresses. Despite plant HSFs share highly conserved structure, their remarkable diversification across plants reflects their numerous functions as well as their integration into the complex stress signaling and response networks, which can be employed in crop improvement strategies via biotechnological intervention