Superradiant Emission from Coherent Excitons in van Der Waals Heterostructures

Recent advancements in isolation and stacking of layered van der Waals materials have created an unprecedented paradigm for demonstrating varieties of 2D quantum materials. Rationally designed van der Waals heterostructures composed of monolayer transition-metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) and few-layer hBN show several unique optoelectronic features driven by correlations. However, entangled superradiant excitonic species in such systems have not been observed before. In this report, it is demonstrated that strong suppression of phonon population at low temperature results in a formation of a coherent excitonic-dipoles ensemble in the heterostructure, and the collective oscillation of those dipoles stimulates a robust phase synchronized ultra-narrow band superradiant emission even at extremely low pumping intensity. Such emitters are in high demand for a multitude of applications, including fundamental research on many-body correlations and other state-of-the-art technologies. This timely demonstration paves the way for further exploration of ultralow-threshold quantum-emitting devices with unmatched design freedom and spectral tunability.     

Efficient Flexible M-Tree Bulk Loading Using FastMap and Space-Filling Curves

Many database applications currently deal with objects in a metric space. Examples of such objects include unstructured multimedia objects and points of interest (POIs) in a road network. The M-tree is a dynamic index structure that facilitates an efficient search for objects in a metric space. Studies have been conducted on the bulk loading of large datasets in an M-tree. However, because previous algorithms involve excessive distance computations and disk accesses, they perform poorly in terms of their index construction and search capability. This study proposes two efficient M-tree bulk loading algorithms. Our algorithms minimize the number of distance computations and disk accesses using FastMap and a space-filling curve, thereby significantly improving the index construction and search performance. Our second algorithm is an extension of the first, and it incorporates a partitioning clustering technique and flexible node architecture to further improve the search performance. Through the use of various synthetic and real-world datasets, the experimental results demonstrated that our algorithms improved the index construction performance by up to three orders of magnitude and the search performance by up to 20.3 times over the previous algorithm.     

Agronomic performance of high oleic,low linolenic soybean in Tennessee

Soybean oil hydrogenation alters the linolenic acid molecule to prevent the oil from becoming rancid, however, health reports have indicated trans-fat caused by hydrogenation, is not generally regarded as safe. Typical soybeans contain approximately 80 g kg⁻¹ to 120 g kg⁻¹ linolenic acid and 240 g kg⁻¹ of oleic acid. In an effort to accommodate the need for high-quality oil, the United Soybean Board introduced an industry standard for a high oleic acid greater than 750 g kg⁻¹ and linolenic acid less than 30 g kg⁻¹ oil. By combing mutations in the soybean plant at four loci, FAD2-1A and FAD2-1B, oleate desaturase genes and FAD3A and FAD3C, linoleate desaturase genes, and seed oil will not require hydrogenation to prevent oxidation and produce high-quality oil. In 2017 and 2018, a study comparing four near-isogenic lines across multiple Tennessee locations was performed to identify agronomic traits associated with mutations in FAD3A and FAD3C loci, while holding FAD2-1A and FAD2-1B constant in the mutant (high oleic) state. Soybean lines were assessed for yield and oil quality based on mutations at FAD2-1 and FAD3 loci. Variations of wild-type and mutant genotypes were compared at FAD3A and FAD3C loci. Analysis using a generalized linear mixed model in SAS 9.4, indicated no yield drag or other negative agronomic traits associated with the high oleic and low linolenic acid genotype. All four mutations of fad2-1A, fad2-1B, fad3A, and fad3C were determined as necessary to produce a soybean with the new industry standard (>750 g kg⁻¹ oleic and <30 g kg⁻¹ linolenic acid) in a maturity group-IV-Late cultivar for Tennessee growers.     

2.3–21 GHz broadband and high linearity distributed low noise amplifier

This paper focuses on the design of a 2.3–21 GHz Distributed Low Noise Amplifier (LNA) with low noise figure (NF), high gain (S₂₁), and high linearity (IIP3) for broadband applications. This distributed amplifier (DA) includes S/C/X/Ku/K-band, which makes it very suitable for heterodyne receivers. The proposed DA uses a 0.18 μm GaAs pHEMT process (OMMIC ED02AH) in cascade architecture with lines adaptation and equalization of phase velocity techniques, to absorb their parasitic capacitances into the gate and drain transmission lines in order to achieve wide bandwidth and to enhance gain and linearity. The proposed broadband DA achieved an excellent gain in the flatness of 13.5 ± 0.2 dB, a low noise figure of 3.44 ± 1.12 dB, and a small group delay variation of ±19.721 ps over the range of 2.3–21 GHz. The input and output reflection coefficients S₁₁ and S₂₂ are less than −10 dB. The input compression point (P_1dB) and input third-order intercept point (IIP3) are −1.5 dBm and 11.5 dBm, respectively at 13 GHz. The dissipated power is 282 mW and the core layout size is 2.2 × 0.8 mm².     

Anaerobic co-digestion of food waste and FOG with sewage sludge – realising its potential in Ireland

The severe environmental pollution in many countries is caused by indiscriminate discharge of large quantities of food waste (FW), fat oil and grease (FOG) and sewage sludge (SS) to the environment. There are many possible treatment routes, but anaerobic digestion (AD) is now well accepted for treating several kinds of organic wastes. But AD of FW alone presents some operational challenges because of substrates and variability. Anaerobic co-digestion of two or more substrates is better than single substrate digestion. This can use a plant’s unused capacity, in line with the trend to renewable energy. Co-digestion technology, although well established in many European countries, is still in its infancy in Ireland. There are problems with different regulatory arrangements. They should be resolved. The paper reviews anaerobic co-digestion technology is reviewed, with special focus on possible application in Ireland.     

多先验融合的图像显著性目标检测算法

为了更加准确地检测出图像中的显著性目标，提出了多先验融合的显著性目标检测算法。针对传统中心先验对偏离图像中心的显著性目标会出现检测失效的情况，提出在多颜色空间下求显著性目标的最小凸包交集来确定目标的大致位置，以凸包区域中心计算中心先验。同时通过融合策略将凸包区域中心先验、颜色对比先验和背景先验融合并集成到特征矩阵中。最后通过低秩矩阵恢复模型生成结果显著图。在公开数据集MSRA1000和ESSCD上的仿真实验结果表明，MPLRR能够得到清晰高亮的显著性目标视觉效果图，同时F，AUC，MAE等评价指标也比现有的许多方法有明显提升。     

Reduction of waste biosolids by RAS-ozonation: Model validation and sensitivity analysis for biosolids reduction and nitrification

Biosolids reduction model by return activated sludge ozonation was validated by simulating nitrification data compiled from our pilot-scale and the literature studies. Then, a global sensitivity analysis (GSA) was performed to identify influential and non-influential parameters for biosolids reduction efficiency, change in specific nitrification activity (SNA), and alteration to expected nitrification stability. In general, the model outputs were sensitive to operational and ozone reaction parameters, but not to biochemical parameters. For operational parameters, mainly temperature and initial solids retention time (SRT) influenced all model outputs. For biosolids reduction, increase in the degradability of the influent COD decreased the reduction efficiency. For SNA, the changes were highly dependent on the influent TKN/COD ratio. Our findings also imply that the stability of the nitrification process in ozonated systems should be enhanced at constant MLVSS for warm temperatures, but could be reduced at temperatures below 12 °C and aerated SRTs below 10 days.     

Vertical cyclic loading response of geosynthetic-encased stone column in soft clay

Dynamic responses of the geosynthetic-encased stone column (GESC) supported embankment under traffic loads have become a hot topic. This study investigates the responses of GESC improved ground under vertical cyclic loading. A series of laboratory tests in a designed model test tank have been carried out with different loading parameters (varied loading amplitudes and frequencies), different column dimensions (varied encasement lengths and column diameters). In the tests, the soil-column stress distribution, accumulated settlement of loading plate, excess pore water pressure in the surrounding soil and lateral bulging of the stone column are monitored. Experimental results indicate that the vertical stress on the stone column increases with the increment of encasement length, and decreases with the increment of column diameter, loading amplitude and loading frequency. The increasing stress on the surrounding soil leads to a greater accumulated settlement of the loading plate and excess pore water pressure, while the increasing stress on the column leads to larger lateral bulging of the column. Excess pore water pressure dissipates effectively through vertical and horizontal drainage channels provided by the stone column and the sand bed. The geosynthetic encasement prevents the clay from obstructing the drainage channel by filtration and guarantees the drainage effect.