Visible two-dimensional photonic crystal slab laser

The authors describe the fabrication and performance of photonic crystal lasers fabricated within thin membranes of InGaP/InGaAlP quantum well material and emitting in the visible wavelength range. These lasers have ultrasmall mode volumes, emit red light, and exhibit low threshold powers. They can be lithographically tuned from 650 to 690 nm. Their cavity volumes of approximately 0.01 µm3 are ideally suited for use as spectroscopic sources

Chemical weathering of monsoonal eastern China: implications from major elements of topsoil

Major element compositions of 36 bulk samples and 41 clay samples, which were obtained from 47 topsoils collected in monsoonal eastern China, were investigated with conventional wet chemistry and X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectrometry, respectively. Based on major element analyses, the mobility of major elements and latitudinal distributions of SiO2/Al2O3 ratio, chemical index of alteration (CIA), chemical index of weathering (CIW) and weathering index of Parker (WIP) were analyzed. Meanwhile, the suitability of these chemical weathering indices to topsoils in monsoonal eastern China and its controls were discussed. These investigations indicate that Na, K, Ca, Mg, and Si are relatively depleted, while Mn, P, Fe and Ti are relatively enriched in topsoils of the study area by comparison with their contents in the upper continent crust (UCC), and that alkali metal (Na, K) and alkaline earth metal (Ca, Mg) elements are generally easier to be depleted from their parent materials than other major elements during chemical weathering. The latitudinal distributions of CIA, CIW and WIP show that they are suitable to both bulk and clay samples, but SiO2/Al2O3 is only suitable to clay samples, not suitable in bulk ones. All these investigations indicate a significant dependence of grain-size in major element abundance and latitudinal distributions of SiO2/Al2O3, CIA, CIW and WIP, but parent rock type has little effect on them, except its impact on the latitudinal distribution of WIP in clay samples. The significant grain-size dependence probably indicates the presence of unaltered minerals in bulk samples, thus we suggest that clay samples are more suitable to investigating chemical weathering of sediments on continents than bulk samples. The trivial effect of parent rock type probably indicates a relatively uniform chemical weathering on various parent rocks. Correlation analyses indicate that climate is the dominant control of chemical weathering of topsoils in the study area, and the significant latitude effect indicated by the spatial distributions of chemical weathering indices actually reflect the climate control on chemical weathering of topsoils. Chemical weathering indices actually reflect the integrated weathering history in the study area. Besides the dominant control of climate, other factors like tectonics, parent rock, biology, landform and soil depth and age might also have some effect on the chemical weathering of topsoils in the study area, which needs further research. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.National Basic Research Program of China [2010CB833405]; National Natural Science Foundation of China [40872111, 40930106

Variable remanence acquisition efficiency in sediments containing biogenic and detrital magnetites: Implications for relative paleointensity signal recording

Widespread geological preservation of biogenic magnetite makes it important to assess how such particles contribute to sedimentary paleomagnetic signals. We studied a sediment core from the South China Sea that passes the strict empirical criteria for magnetic "uniformity" used in relative paleointensity studies. Such assessments are based routinely on bulk magnetic parameters that often fail to enable identification of mixed magnetic mineral assemblages. Using techniques that enable component-specific magnetic mineral identification, we find that biogenic and detrital magnetites occur in approximately equal concentrations within the studied sediments. We analyzed normalized remanence signals associated with the two magnetite components to assess whether co-occurring biogenic and detrital magnetites record geomagnetic information in the same way and with the same efficiency. Paleomagnetic directions for the two components have no phase lag, which suggests that the biogenic and detrital magnetites acquired their magnetizations at equivalent times. However, we find that the biogenic magnetite is generally 2-4 times more efficient as the detrital magnetite in contributing to the natural remanent magnetization (NRM) despite their approximately equal magnetic contributions. Variations in the concentration and efficiency of remanence acquisition of the two components suggest that a significant part of the NRM is controlled by nongeomagnetic factors that will affect relative paleointensity recording. We recommend that methods suited to the detection of variable recording efficiency associated with biogenic and detrital magnetites should be used on a routine basis in relative paleointensity studies

A narrative review of diabetic bone disease: Characteristics, pathogenesis, and treatment

Recently, the increasing prevalence of diabetes mellitus has made it a major chronic illness which poses a substantial threat to human health. The prevalence of osteoporosis among patients with diabetes mellitus has grown considerably. Diabetic bone disease is a secondary osteoporosis induced by diabetes mellitus. Patients with diabetic bone disease exhibit variable degrees of bone loss, low bone mineral density, bone microarchitecture degradation, and increased bone fragility with continued diabetes mellitus, increasing their risk of fracture and impairing their ability to heal after fractures. At present, there is extensive research interest in diabetic bone disease and many significant outcomes have been reported. However, there are no comprehensive review is reported. This review elaborates on diabetic bone disease in the aspects of characteristics, pathogenesis, and treatment