Metasurface array for single-shot spectroscopic ellipsometry

Spectroscopic ellipsometry is a potent method that is widely adopted for the measurement of thin film thickness and refractive index. However, a conventional ellipsometer, which utilizes a mechanically rotating polarizer and grating-based spectrometer for spectropolarimetric detection, is bulky, complex, and does not allow real-time measurements. Here, we demonstrated a compact metasurface array-based spectroscopic ellipsometry system that allows single-shot spectropolarimetric detection and accurate determination of thin film properties without any mechanical movement. The silicon-based metasurface array with a highly anisotropic and diverse spectral response is combined with iterative optimization to reconstruct the full Stokes polarization spectrum of the light reflected by the thin film with high fidelity. Subsequently, the film thickness and refractive index can be determined by fitting the measurement results to a proper material model with high accuracy. Our approach opens up a new pathway towards a compact and robust spectroscopic ellipsometry system for the high throughput measurement of thin film properties

Near-wall modeling of forests for atmosphere boundary layers using lattice Boltzmann method on GPU

In this paper, the simulation and modeling of the turbulent atmospheric boundary layers (ABLs) in the presence of forests are studied using a lattice Boltzmann method with large eddy simulation, which was implemented in the open-source program GASCANS with the use of Graphic Processing Units (GPU). A method of modeling forests in the form of body forces injected near the wall is revisited, while the effects of leaf area density (LAD) on the model accuracy is further addressed. Since a uniform cell size is applied throughout the computational domain, the wall-normal height of the near-wall cells is very large, theoretically requiring a wall function to model the boundary layer. However, the wall function is disregarded here when the forest is modeled. This approximation is validated based on the comparison with previous experimental and numerical data. It concludes that for the ABL conditions specified in this study as well as a large body of literature, the forest forces overwhelm the wall friction so that the modeling of the latter effect is trivial. Constant and varying LAD profiles across the forest zone are defined with the same total leaf area despite the varying one being studied previously. It is found that the two LAD profiles provide consistent predictions. The present forest modeling can therefore be simplified with the use of the constant LAD without degrading the model accuracy remarkably

Case Report: A Novel GJB2 Missense Variant Inherited From the Low-Level Mosaic Mother in a Chinese Female With Palmoplantar Keratoderma With Deafness

Dominant variants in the gap junction beta-2 (GJB2) gene may lead to various degrees of syndromic hearing loss (SHL) which is manifest as sensorineural hearing impairment and hyperproliferative epidermal disorders, including palmoplantar keratoderma with deafness (PPKDFN). So far, only a few GJB2 dominant variants causing PPKDFN have been discovered. Through the whole-exome sequencing (WES), a Chinese female patient with severe palmoplantar hyperkeratosis and delayed-onset hearing loss has been identified. She had a novel heterozygous variant, c.224G>C (p.R75P), in the GJB2 gene, which was unreported previously. The proband’s mother who had a mild phenotype was suggested the possibility of mosaicism by WES (∼120×), and the ultra-deep targeted sequencing (∼20,000×) was used for detecting low-level mosaic variants which provided accurate recurrence-risk estimates and genetic counseling. In addition, the analysis of protein structure indicated that the structural stability and permeability of the connexin 26 (Cx26) gap junction channel may be disrupted by the p.R75P variant. Through retrospective analysis, it is detected that the junction of extracellular region-1 (EC1) and transmembrane region-2 (TM2) is a variant hotspot for PPKDFN, such as p.R75. Our report reflects the important and effective diagnostic role of WES in PPKDFN and low-level mosaicism, expands the spectrum of the GJB2 variant, and furthermore provides strong proof about the relevance between the p.R75P variant in GJB2 and PPKDFN

Interleukin 35 Delays Hindlimb Ischemia-Induced Angiogenesis Through Regulating ROS-Extracellular Matrix but Spares Later Regenerative Angiogenesis.

Interleukin (IL) 35 is a novel immunosuppressive heterodimeric cytokine in IL-12 family. Whether and how IL-35 regulates ischemia-induced angiogenesis in peripheral artery diseases are unrevealed. To fill this important knowledge gap, we used loss-of-function, gain-of-function, omics data analysis, RNA-Seq, in vivo and in vitro experiments, and we have made the following significant findings: i) IL-35 and its receptor subunit IL-12RB2, but not IL-6ST, are induced in the muscle after hindlimb ischemia (HLI); ii) HLI-induced angiogenesis is improved in Il12rb2-/- mice, in ApoE-/-/Il12rb2-/- mice compared to WT and ApoE-/- controls, respectively, where hyperlipidemia inhibits angiogenesis in vivo and in vitro; iii) IL-35 cytokine injection as a gain-of-function approach delays blood perfusion recovery at day 14 after HLI; iv) IL-35 spares regenerative angiogenesis at the late phase of HLI recovery after day 14 of HLI; v) Transcriptome analysis of endothelial cells (ECs) at 14 days post-HLI reveals a disturbed extracellular matrix re-organization in IL-35-injected mice; vi) IL-35 downregulates three reactive oxygen species (ROS) promoters and upregulates one ROS attenuator, which may functionally mediate IL-35 upregulation of anti-angiogenic extracellular matrix proteins in ECs; and vii) IL-35 inhibits human microvascular EC migration and tube formation in vitro mainly through upregulating anti-angiogenic extracellular matrix-remodeling proteins. These findings provide a novel insight on the future therapeutic potential of IL-35 in suppressing ischemia/inflammation-triggered inflammatory angiogenesis at early phase but sparing regenerative angiogenesis at late phase

The sequencing and characterization of chloroplast genome of Geranium sibiricum Linne

The complete chloroplast genome of Geranium sibiricum Linne. was sequenced, assembled and annotated. It is a circular form of 150,656 bp in length, which was separated into four distinct regions, a large single copy (LSC) of 73,862 bp, a small single copy region (SSC) of 52,666 bp, two inverted repeats (IR) of 12,064bp. A total of 124 genes were predicted, of which, 87 encode proteins, 4 rRNA, 33 tRNA. The evolutionary history was inferred using Maximum Likelihood method, and the result indicates that G. sibiricum was grouped within Geraniaceae, and comprised a clade with Geranium palmatum under 100% Bootstrap value

Empirical Research on Industrial Design Contribution Rate under Statistical Frame

This paper studies the evaluation method of industrial design contribution rate from the statistical frame, strives to realize the extension of research results and the replication of research method. This paper firstly identifies the connecting points with the statistics of national scientific activities through streamlining the relationship between industrial design and R&D; and then it selects the appropriate calculating model and variants according to the characteristics of industrial design, as well as established the accumulating effects regression model as per the development rules of product; finally it applies the statistical data of random sampling to calculate the industrial rate of ShunDe District in 2012 and analyzes the research result

Empirical Research on Industrial Design Contribution Rate under Statistical Frame

This paper studies the evaluation method of industrial design contribution rate from the statistical frame, strives to realize the extension of research results and the replication of research method. This paper firstly identifies the connecting points with the statistics of national scientific activities through streamlining the relationship between industrial design and R&D; and then it selects the appropriate calculating model and variants according to the characteristics of industrial design, as well as established the accumulating effects regression model as per the development rules of product; finally it applies the statistical data of random sampling to calculate the industrial rate of ShunDe District in 2012 and analyzes the research result

Cross‐view face recognition via structured dictionary based domain shift

View variation is a major challenge in face recognition. In this study, the authors propose a novel cross‐view face recognition method by seeking potential intermediate domains between the source and target views to model the connection of varying‐views faces. Specifically, each intermediate domain is associated with a dictionary subspace. Learning proceeds in two phases. First, the authors discriminatively train a sub‐dictionary for each subclass of data, which then compose a structured dictionary of powerful reconstructive and discriminative capability on the source data. Secondly, the authors gradually adapt the source domain dictionary to the target domain by incrementally reducing the reconstruction error on the target data, which forms a smooth transition path connecting the source and target domains. Instead of updating the structured dictionary integrally, the authors develop a refined sub‐dictionary‐based updating algorithm, which makes the intermediate dictionaries fit on the target data better and faster. Finally, the authors apply invariant sparse codes across the source, intermediate and target domains to render domain‐shared representations, where the sample differences caused by view changes are reduced. Experiments on the CMU‐PIE and Multi‐PIE dataset demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method

Early Diagnosis of Brain Injury in Premature Infants Based on Amplitude-Integrated EEG Scoring System

Analyzing and discussing the relationship between brain injury in preterm infants and related risk factors can provide evidence for perinatal prevention and early intervention of brain injury in preterm infants, thereby improving the quality of life of preterm infants. This paper selects term preterm infants diagnosed with preterm infant asphyxia in the NICU of a university’s First Affiliated Hospital from January 2018 to February 2019 as the research object. In addition, healthy term infants born at the same time in the obstetric department of this hospital are selected as the control group. Both groups of premature infants were monitored for brain function within 6 hours after birth. The aEEG results range from background activity (continuous normal voltage, discontinuous normal voltage, burst suppression, continuous low voltage, and plateau) and sleep-wake cycle (no sleep-wake cycle, immature, and mature sleep-wake cycle) to epileptic activity (single seizures, recurrent seizures, and status epilepticus), three aspects to judge. Statistical analysis uses SPSS 17.0 software. Amplitude-integrated EEG is a simplified form of continuous EEG recording. The trace of the trace represents the voltage change signal of the entire EEG background activity, which can reflect the EEG amplitude, frequency, burst-inhibition, and other pieces of information. aEEG can reflect the degree of HIE lesions in premature infants and the long-term prognosis. It is easy to operate and effective in diagnosis and can be continuously monitored. It is worthy of clinical popularization. There is a good correlation between the expression of EEG and biomarkers. Combining multiple methods can diagnose HIE earlier and evaluate the prognosis