Unusually large spin polarization and magnetoresistance in a FeMg8-FeMg8 superatomic dimer

Electronic transport across a FeMg8 magnetic superatom and its dimer has been investigated using a density functional theory combined with Keldysh nonequilibrium Green\u27s-function formalism. For a single cluster, our studies for the cluster supported in various orientations on a Au(100) surface show that the transport is sensitive to the contact geometry. Investigations covering the cases where the axes of Mg square antiprism are 45°, perpendicular, and parallel to the transport direction, show that the equilibrium conductance, transferred charge, and currentpolarizations can all change significantly with orientation. Our studies on the transport across a magnetic superatom dimer FeMg8–FeMg8 focus on the effect of electrode contact distance and the support. The calculated I-V curves show negative differential resistance behavior at larger electrode-cluster contact distances. Further, the equilibrium conductance in ferromagnetic state shows an unusually high spin polarization that is about 81.48% for specific contact distance, and a large magnetoresistance ratio exceeding 500% is also found. The results show that the superatom assemblies can provide unusual transport characteristics, and that the spinpolarization and magnetoresistance can be controlled via the contact geometry

Nrf2 signaling pathway: current status and potential therapeutic targetable role in human cancers

Cancer is a borderless global health challenge that continues to threaten human health. Studies have found that oxidative stress (OS) is often associated with the etiology of many diseases, especially the aging process and cancer. Involved in the OS reaction as a key transcription factor, Nrf2 is a pivotal regulator of cellular redox state and detoxification. Nrf2 can prevent oxidative damage by regulating gene expression with antioxidant response elements (ARE) to promote the antioxidant response process. OS is generated with an imbalance in the redox state and promotes the accumulation of mutations and genome instability, thus associated with the establishment and development of different cancers. Nrf2 activation regulates a plethora of processes inducing cellular proliferation, differentiation and death, and is strongly associated with OS-mediated cancer. What’s more, Nrf2 activation is also involved in anti-inflammatory effects and metabolic disorders, neurodegenerative diseases, and multidrug resistance. Nrf2 is highly expressed in multiple human body parts of digestive system, respiratory system, reproductive system and nervous system. In oncology research, Nrf2 has emerged as a promising therapeutic target. Therefore, certain natural compounds and drugs can exert anti-cancer effects through the Nrf2 signaling pathway, and blocking the Nrf2 signaling pathway can reduce some types of tumor recurrence rates and increase sensitivity to chemotherapy. However, Nrf2’s dual role and controversial impact in cancer are inevitable consideration factors when treating Nrf2 as a therapeutic target. In this review, we summarized the current state of biological characteristics of Nrf2 and its dual role and development mechanism in different tumor cells, discussed Keap1/Nrf2/ARE signaling pathway and its downstream genes, elaborated the expression of related signaling pathways such as AMPK/mTOR and NF-κB. Besides, the main mechanism of Nrf2 as a cancer therapeutic target and the therapeutic strategies using Nrf2 inhibitors or activators, as well as the possible positive and negative effects of Nrf2 activation were also reviewed. It can be concluded that Nrf2 is related to OS and serves as an important factor in cancer formation and development, thus provides a basis for targeted therapy in human cancers

Experimental and theoretical studies on concrete structures with special-shaped shear walls

On the basis of concept design and staggered shear panels structure,this paper puts forward a new reinforced concrete high rise biuding structure with special-shaped shear walls and presents an experimental study of the seismic performance of the new special-shaped shear walls structure under low reversed cyclic loading using MTS electro hydraulic servo system.Compared with experimental results,a finite element analysis on this special-shaped shear wall structure,which considers the nonlinearity of concrete structure,is found suitable.It shows that the experimental results fairly confirms to the calculated values,which indicates that this new structure has advantages as good architecture function,big effective space,high overall lateral stiffness,fine ductility,advanced seismic behavior,etc..That is,the close r agreement between the theoretical and experimental results indicates the proposed shear wall structure has wide applications

Experimental research on fire resistance of circular steel tube column filled with steel-reinforced high-strength concrete

Circular steel tube filled with steel-reinforced high-strength concrete is a new model of composite column design.The fire resistance of this composite column was investigated experimentally.One circular steel tube column filled with steel-reinforced high-strength concrete and one circular steel tube column filled with high- strength concrete were tested under axial load and fire.The test results show that the axial deformations of both kinds of the composite columns under the same load level have experienced three stages variation:the initial expansion deformation stage,the compression deformation gradual growth stage and the damage stage with the dramatic increasing in compression deformation.The second compression stable development stage of the circular steel tube filled with steel-reinforced high-strength concrete is much longer than that of the circular steel tube column filled with high-strength concrete.Thus the fire endurance of the circular steel tube filled with steel-reinforced high-strength concrete reaches 166 minutes while the fire endurance of the circular steel tube column filled with high-strength concrete only reaches 46 minutes.Thus encasig section steel can remarkably improve the fire endurance of the circular steel tube filled with high-strength concrete.The research results can provide beneficial reference for the fire design of circular steel tube composite columns filled with steel-reinforced concrete

Ab initio study of electronic structure of strained Si

The ab initio pseudopotential method within the local density functional theory and virtual-crystal approximation is used to study the band gap of the Si$_{1-x-y}$GexCy (y $\leq$ 0.09) alloys on a Ge(001) substrate. The heterojunction discontinuities are also investigated in the framework of the average bond energy theory in conjunction with the deformation potential method. The calculated results show that the energy gap still remains indirect and only a small amount of C could cause the energy gap to be shrunk significantly. The top of the valence bands of the strained Si$_{1-x-y}$GexCy alloys on Ge(001) is significantly lifted and even could be greatly higher than that of Ge by the addition of small amounts of carbon. The trends of our results are consistent with other theoretical data

Formation energies of the lithium intercalations in MoS2

First-principles calculations have been performed to study the lithium intercalations in MoS2. The formation energies, changes of volumes, electronic structures and charge densities of the lithium intercalations in MoS2 are presented. Our calculations show that during lithium intercalations in MoS2, the lithium intercalation formation energies per lithium atom are between 2.5 eV to 3.0 eV. The volume expansions of MoS2 due to lithium intercalations are relatively small

Ab initio calculations of the formation energies of lithium intercalations in SnSb

SnSb has attracted a great attention in recent investigations as an anode material for Li ion batteries. The formation energies and electronic properties of the Li intercalations in SnSb have been calculated within the framework of local density functional theory and the first-principles pseudopotential technique. The changes of volumes, band structures, charge density analysis and the electronic density of states for the Li intercalations are presented. The results show that the average Li intercalation formation energy per Li atom is around 2.7 eV