290 research outputs found
Iodine Vacancy Redistribution in OrganicāInorganic Halide Perovskite Films and Resistive Switching Effects
Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/138254/1/adma201700527_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/138254/2/adma201700527-sup-0001-S1.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/138254/3/adma201700527.pd
Nanoionic ResistiveāSwitching Devices
Advances in the understanding of nanoscale ionic processes in solidāstate thin films have led to the rapid development of devices based on coupled ionicāelectronic effects. For example, ionādriven resistiveāswitching (RS) devices have been extensively studied for future memory applications due to their excellent performance in terms of switching speed, endurance, retention, and scalability. Recent studies further suggest that RS devices are more than just resistors with tunable resistance; instead, they exhibit rich and complex internal ionic dynamics that equip them with native informationāprocessing capabilities, particularly in the temporal domain. RS effects induced by the migration of different types of ions, often driven by an electric field, are discussed. It is shown that, by taking advantage of the different state variables controlled by the ionic processes, important synaptic functions can be faithfully implemented in solidāstate devices and networks. Recent efforts on improving the controllability of ionic processes to optimize device performance are also discussed, along with new opportunities for material design and engineering enabled by the ability to control ionic processes at the atomic scale.Solidāstate resistiveāswitching devices driven by nanoscale ionic processes are reviewed, with the focus on the rich ionic dynamics that enable natural implementation of a range of biological synaptic and neuron functions. Efforts to control ion redistribution at the atomic scale have led to improved device performance, and enabled applications based on reconfigurable nanostructures and materials through controlled ionic processes in solidāstate devices.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/151267/1/aelm201900184_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/151267/2/aelm201900184.pd
Adipose Tissue-Resident Immune Cells in Obesity and Type 2 Diabetes
Inflammation is an important contributor to the pathogenesis of obesity-related type 2 diabetes (T2D). Adipose tissue-resident immune cells have been observed, and the potential contribution of these cells to metabolic dysfunction has been appreciated in recent years. This review focused on adipose tissue-resident immune cells that are dysregulated in the context of obesity and T2D. We comprehensively overviewed emerging knowledge regarding the phenotypic and functional properties of these cells and local factors that control their development. We discussed their function in controlling the immune response cascade and disease progression. We also characterized the metabolic profiles of these cells to explain the functional consequences in obese adipose tissues. Finally, we discussed the potential therapeutic targeting of adipose tissue-resident immune cells with the aim of addressing novel therapeutic approaches for the treatment of this disease
A descriptive epidemiological study on the patterns of occupational injuries in a coastal area and a mountain area in Southern China
Optimizing the thermoelectric performance of zigzag and chiral carbon nanotubes
Using nonequilibrium molecular dynamics simulations and nonequilibrium Green's function method, we investigate the thermoelectric properties of a series of zigzag and chiral carbon nanotubes which exhibit interesting diameter and chirality dependence. Our calculated results indicate that these carbon nanotubes could have higher ZT values at appropriate carrier concentration and operating temperature. Moreover, their thermoelectric performance can be significantly enhanced via isotope substitution, isoelectronic impurities, and hydrogen adsorption. It is thus reasonable to expect that carbon nanotubes may be promising candidates for high-performance thermoelectric materials
Spatiotemporal patterns of particulate matter (PM) and associations between PM and mortality in Shenzhen, China
DOI: 10.1186/s12889-016-2725-6Background: Most studies on air pollution exposure and its associations with human health in China have focused on
the heavily polluted industrial areas and/or mega-cities, and studies on cities with comparatively low air pollutant
concentrations are still rare. Only a few studies have attempted to analyse particulate matter (PM) for the vibrant
economic centre Shenzhen in the Pearl River Delta. So far no systematic investigation of PM spatiotemporal patterns
in Shenzhen has been undertaken and the understanding of pollution exposure in urban agglomerations with
comparatively low pollution is still limited.
Methods: We analyze daily and hourly particulate matter concentrations and all-cause mortality during 2013 in
Shenzhen, China. Temporal patterns of PM (PM2.5 and PM10) with aerodynamic diameters of 2.5 (10) Ī¼m or less
(or less (including particles with a diameter that equals to 2.5 (10) Ī¼m) are studied, along with the ratio of PM2.5 to
PM10. Spatial distributions of PM10 and PM2.5 are addressed and associations of PM10 or PM2.5 and all-cause mortality
are analyzed.
Results: Annual average PM10 and PM2.5 concentrations were 61.3 and 39.6 Ī¼g/m3 in 2013. PM2.5 failed to meet the
Class 2 annual limit of the National Ambient Air Quality Standard. PM2.5 was the primary air pollutant, with 8.8 % of
days having heavy PM2.5 pollution. The daily PM2.5/PM10 ratios were high. Hourly PM2.5 concentrations in the tourist
area were lower than downtown throughout the day. PM10 and PM2.5 concentrations were higher in western parts of
Shenzhen than in eastern parts. Excess risks in the number of all-cause mortality with a 10 Ī¼g/m3 increase of PM were
0.61 % (95 % confidence interval [CI]: 0.50ā0.72) for PM10, and 0.69 % (95 % CI: 0.55ā0.83) for PM2.5, respectively. The
greatest ERs of PM10 and PM2.5 were in 2-day cumulative measures for the all-cause mortality, 2-day lag for females and
the young (0ā65 years), and L02 for males and the elder (>65 years). PM2.5 had higher risks on all-cause mortality than
PM10. Effects of high PM pollution on mortality were stronger in the elder and male.
Conclusions: Our findings provide additional relevant information on air quality monitoring and associations of PM
and human health, valuable data for further scientific research in Shenzhen and for the on-going discourse on
improving environmental policie
Living in Two Cultures: Chinese Canadiansā Perspectives on Health
OBJECTIVES: Chinese people have distinctive perspectives on health and illness that are largely unrecognized in Western society. The purpose of this descriptive study was to develop a profile of Chinese immigrantsā beliefs and practices related to diet, mental and social health, and sexual health.
METHODS: A quantitative survey with descriptive and correlational analyses was employed to examine 100 first-generation Chinese immigrants living in four urban centres across Canada (Vancouver, Toronto, Halifax, and St. Catharines).
RESULTS: Although most Chinese immigrants preferred a Chinese diet, where they resided affected the groceries they bought and the meals they ate. Almost all participants reported their mental health was important to them and most felt comfortable discussing mental health issues with others. However, only a third would see a psychiatrist if they believed they had a mental health problem. Most participants believed social relationships were important for their health. Only a small number of participants, however, preferred making friends with mainstream Caucasian Canadians. More men than women believed sexuality contributed to health and were comfortable talking about sexual health.
CONCLUSION: Chinese immigrants should be encouraged to be more engaged in the larger community in order to fully integrate themselves into Canadian society while still being encouraged to retain their healthy practices. These findings may help educators and practitioners enhance their understandings of Chinese immigrantsā perspectives on health and develop culturally competent education and services in health care and health promotion.Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) and Sport Canada Joint Initiative Gran
Theory-based Causal Transfer: Integrating Instance-level Induction and Abstract-level Structure Learning
Learning transferable knowledge across similar but different settings is a
fundamental component of generalized intelligence. In this paper, we approach
the transfer learning challenge from a causal theory perspective. Our agent is
endowed with two basic yet general theories for transfer learning: (i) a task
shares a common abstract structure that is invariant across domains, and (ii)
the behavior of specific features of the environment remain constant across
domains. We adopt a Bayesian perspective of causal theory induction and use
these theories to transfer knowledge between environments. Given these general
theories, the goal is to train an agent by interactively exploring the problem
space to (i) discover, form, and transfer useful abstract and structural
knowledge, and (ii) induce useful knowledge from the instance-level attributes
observed in the environment. A hierarchy of Bayesian structures is used to
model abstract-level structural causal knowledge, and an instance-level
associative learning scheme learns which specific objects can be used to induce
state changes through interaction. This model-learning scheme is then
integrated with a model-based planner to achieve a task in the OpenLock
environment, a virtual ``escape room'' with a complex hierarchy that requires
agents to reason about an abstract, generalized causal structure. We compare
performances against a set of predominate model-free reinforcement learning(RL)
algorithms. RL agents showed poor ability transferring learned knowledge across
different trials. Whereas the proposed model revealed similar performance
trends as human learners, and more importantly, demonstrated transfer behavior
across trials and learning situations.Comment: Accepted to AAAI 2020 as an ora
Evaluation of the reporting quality of clinical practice guidelines on gliomas using the RIGHT checklist
Background: The reporting quality of clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) for gliomas has not yet been thoroughly assessed. The International Reporting Items for Practice Guidelines in Healthcare (RIGHT) statement developed in 2016 provides a reporting framework to improve the quality of CPGs. We aimed to estimate the reporting quality of glioma guidelines using the RIGHT checklist and investigate how the reporting quality differs by selected characteristics. Methods: We systematically searched electronic databases, guideline databases, and medical society websites to retrieve CPGs on glioma published between 2018 and 2020. We calculated the compliance of the CPGs to individual items, domains and the RIGHT checklist overall. We performed stratified analyses by publication year, country of development, reporting of funding, and impact factor (IF) of the journal. Results: Our search revealed 20 eligible guidelines. Mean overall adherence to the RIGHT statement was 54.6%. Eight CPGs reported more than 60% of the items, and five reported less than 50%. All guidelines adhered to the items 1a, 3, 7a, 13a, while no guidelines reported the items 17 or 18b (see http://www.rightstatement.org/right-statement/checklist for a description of the items). Two of the seven domains, "Basic information" and "Background", had mean reporting rates above 60%. The "Review and quality assurance" domain had the lowest mean reporting rate, 12.5%. The reporting quality of guidelines published in 2020, guidelines developed in the United States, and guidelines that reported funding tended to be above average. Conclusions: The reporting quality of CPGs on gliomas is low and needs improvement. Particular attention should be paid on reporting the external review and quality assurance process. The use of the RIGHT criteria should be encouraged to guide the development, reporting and evaluation of CPGs
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