Mixed Cells Research Articles

Integrated Power Distribution Network Synthesis for Mixed Macro Blocks and Standard Cells

Power distribution network (PDN) requires more routing resources as wire resistance increases with technology scaling but IR drop constraint does not scale. We address post-placement PDN synthesis for mixed macro blocks and standard cells. Macro blocks already have partial PDN, while standard cells do not. So the design, which has been placed, is divided into a number of partitions: each macro block in its own partition, and standard cell area into a number of partitions. Multi-layer PDN synthesis is performed in each partition one by one; the goal of this problem is to insert minimum number of metal straps (in irregular pitches) while IR drop and electromigration (EM) constraints are respected. This is formulated as mixed integer quadratically constrained programming (MIQCP) and a heuristic algorithm is proposed for practical application. Experimental results with some test circuits indicate that the proposed approach achieves on average of 26% reduction in PDN straps, which helps reduce congestion overflow of signal routing by 15%, compared to popular approach in which PDN straps are located in regular pitch period.

Effect of the shape and the distribution of cells on the effective thermal conductivity of polyurethane foam

AbstractTo design foams with specific properties, it is important to be able to predict their effective properties. The objective of this study is to compare and quantify the effect of the geometrical parameters on the thermal properties. Then the study uses both analytical and numerical homogenization methods to connect micro‐scale parameters to the macro‐scale thermal behavior. Several statistical studies of the morphology have been used to model the different categories of PU foams. The foam is modeled by a periodic structure of open, closed, or mixed cells. For each type of cell, different idealized shapes of a single cell are used, while keeping a constant porosity for each category. In the case of mixed cells, the effect of the relative positioning of cells is investigated. The results show that the effective thermal conductivity is considerably impacted by the cell shape. Moreover, the geometrical modeling of the struts, in the heuristic modeling, has also an important effect. Furthermore, the relative position of gas cavities, in the spherical representation, influences the effective thermal conductivity. However, the distribution of open and closed cells, in the case of mixed cell foam, has a limited effect.

Bilayer Indium Tin Oxide Electrodes for Deformation‐Free Ultrathin Flexible Perovskite Solar Cells

The superior electrical conductivity and optical transparency of indium tin oxide (ITO) make it an ideal electrode material for use in optoelectronic devices such as solar cells. When ITO electrodes are fabricated on very thin plastic substrates, however, the internal stress of the ITO layer causes the substrate to deform, severely limiting the device's performance. Herein, it is shown that ITO bilayers composed of an amorphous base layer and a crystalline overlayer lead to deformation‐free ITO electrodes. It is shown that an optimized bilayer structure is achieved when the internal stresses of the amorphous and crystalline layers approximately cancel. With this approach, mixed composition metal halide perovskite solar cells with ITO electrodes are successfully fabricated on 4 μm polyethylene naphthalate films. A power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 18.2% is obtained for the reference cell design, corresponding to a power‐to‐weight ratio of 24 W g−1 before encapsulation. The devices retain 95% of the original PCE after 1000 bend cycles, while under simulated indoor lighting (white LED, 200 lux, 5000 K) the PCE reaches 28.3%. A 3‐cell module with a designated area of 2.3 cm2 is realized with a power output of 28.1 mW and an open‐circuit voltage of 3.17 V.

Targeted passivation and optimized interfacial carrier dynamics improving the efficiency and stability of hole transport layer-free narrow-bandgap perovskite solar cells

Narrow-bandgap mixed Sn-Pb perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have showcased great potential to approach the Shockley-Queisser limit. Nevertheless, the practical application and long-term deployment of mixed Sn-Pb PSCs are still largely impeded by the rapid oxidation of Sn2+ ions and under-optimized carrier transport layer (CTL)/perovskite interfaces that would inevitably incur serious interfacial charge recombination and device performance degradation. Herein, we successfully removed the hole transport layer (HTL) by incorporating a small amount of organic phosphonic acid molecules into perovskites, which could preferably interact with Sn2+ ions (relative to Pb2+ analogues) at the grain boundaries (GBs) throughout the perovskite film thickness via coordination bonding, thus effectively retarding the oxidation of Sn2+, passivating the defects and suppressing the non-radiative recombination. Targeted modification effectively reinforced built-in potential by ∼100 mV, and favorably induced energy level cascade, thus accelerating spatial charge separation and facilitating the hole extraction from perovskite layer to underlying conductive electrodes even in the absence of HTL. Consequently, enhanced power conversion efficiencies up to 20.21% have been achieved, which is the record efficiency for the HTL-free mixed Sn-Pb PSCs, accompanied by a decent photovoltage of 0.87 V and improved long-term stability over 2400 h.

MiR-92a-1-5p enriched prostate cancer extracellular vesicles regulate osteoclast function via MAPK1 and FoxO1

BackgroundWe have previously reported that extracellular vesicles (EVs) derived from osteoblastic, osteoclastic and mixed prostate cancer cells promote osteoclast differentiation and inhibit osteoblast differentiation via transferring miR-92a-1-5p. In the present study, we focused on engineering miR-92a-1-5p into EVs and determining any therapeutic roles and mechanisms of the engineered EVs.MethodsA stable prostate cancer cell line (MDA PCa 2b) overexpressing miR-92a-1-5p was constructed by lentivirus, and EVs were isolated by ultracentrifugation. The overexpression of miR-92a-1-5p in both cells and EVs was tested using qPCR. Osteoclast function was evaluated by Trap staining, mRNA expression of osteoclastic markers ctsk and trap, immunolabeling of CTSK and TRAP and microCT using either in vitro and in vivo assays. Target gene of miR-92a-1-5p was proved by a dual-luciferase reporter assay system. siRNAs were designed and used for transient expression in order to determine the role of downstream genes on osteoclast differentiation.ResultsStable overexpression cells of miRNA-92a-5p was associated with EVs upregulating this microRNA, as confirmed by qPCR. Further, miR-92a-1-5p enriched EVs promote osteoclast differentiation in vitro by reducing MAPK1 and FoxO1 expression, associated with increased osteoclast function as shown by TRAP staining and mRNA expression of osteoclast functional genes. siRNA targeting MAPK1 or FoxO1 resulted in similar increase in osteoclast function. In vivo, the miR-92a-1-5p enriched EVs given via i.v. injection promote osteolysis, which was associated with reduction of MAPK1 and FoxO1 expression in bone marrow.ConclusionThese experiments suggest that miR-92a-1-5p enriched EVs regulate osteoclast function via reduction of MAPK1 and FoxO1.Graphical

Inflammatory myofibroblastic tumors: A short series with an emphasis on the diagnostic and therapeutic challenges.

Inflammatory myofibroblastic tumors (IMTs) are a distinct entity of mesenchymal tumors. We present the challenges in their diagnosis and management. A retrospective study with detailed clinical, radiological, and histopathological (HPE) features along with management and outcome of 10 biopsy-proven patients with IMT, between 2001 and 2020. The location included intracranial (5), orbital (4), and spinal (1) with M:F = 7:3. The mean age of onset was in the third decade. The commonest symptom was headache, while proptosis and blurred vision occurred in orbital IMTs. HPE revealed diffuse infiltration of mixed inflammatory cells over proliferating myofibroblasts. Smooth muscle antigen immunoreactivity was noted in fibroblastic spindle cells of all IMTs. However, we did not find anaplastic lymphoma kinase expression in any of our cases, as this is only found in ~50% of all IMTs. Tumor infiltration into adjacent tissue was noted in 4 patients. Surgical excision was limited to orbital IMTs, as most central nervous system (CNS) tumors were not amenable for resection. Steroid administration showed moderate improvement in the IMT-CNS patients but also required additional immunomodulation. Four patients had a median long-term follow-up of 7 years. Two patients had recurrent lesions demonstrated by imaging after 2 years of initial presentation. IMTs are rare and ambiguous tumors of unknown etiology that can occur anywhere in the body. Clinical and radiological features may not be specific to determine the diagnosis, but it should be considered as a differential diagnosis. Extensive thorough workup with histopathology along with the help of immunohistochemistry is conducive to better clinical outcomes. Surgical biopsy with extensive and total resection of these tumors along with steroid and radiotherapy may enhance the survival outcomes.

Expansion of mixed immune cells using CD3/CD161 co-stimulation for the treatment of cancer

Adoptive cell transfer (ACT) is a type of personalized immunotherapy in which expanded immune cells are administered to patients with cancer. However, single-cell populations, such as killer T cells, dendritic cells, natural killer (NK) cells, and NKT (NKT) cells, have been generally used, and their effectiveness remains limited. Here, we established a novel culture method via CD3/CD161 co-stimulation and successfully expanded CD3+/CD4+ helper T cells, CD3+/CD8+ cytotoxic T cells (CTLs), CD3−/CD56+ NK cells, CD3+/CD1d+ NKT cells, CD3+/CD56+ NKT cells, CD3+/TCRγδ+ T cells, and CD3−/CD11c+/HLA-DR+ dendritic cells in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from healthy donors; their respective numbers were 155.5, 1132.5, 5.7, 117.0, 659.2, 325.6, and 6.8 times higher than those before expansion. These mixed immune cells showed strong cytotoxicity against cancer cell lines Capan-1 and SW480. Moreover, both CD3+/CD8+ CTLs and CD3+/CD56+ NKT cells killed tumor cells in cell contact-dependent and -independent manners via granzyme B and interferon-γ/TNF-α, respectively. Furthermore, the cytotoxicity of the mixed cells was significantly superior to that of CTLs or NKTs alone. A bet-hedging CTL-NKT circuitry is one potential mechanism underlying this cooperative cytotoxicity. Collectively, CD3/CD161 co-stimulation may be a promising culture method to expand multiple, distinct immune cell populations for the treatment of cancer.

NOD-like receptor NLRC5 promotes neuroinflammation and inhibits neuronal survival in Parkinson’s disease models

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is mainly characterized by the progressive degeneration of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNpc) and neuroinflammation mediated by overactivated microglia and astrocytes. NLRC5 (nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain-like receptor family caspase recruitment domain containing 5) has been reported to participate in various immune disorders, but its role in neurodegenerative diseases remains unclear. In the current study, we found that the expression of NLRC5 was increased in the nigrostriatal axis of mice with 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine hydrochloride (MPTP)-induced PD, as well as in primary astrocytes, microglia and neurons exposed to different neurotoxic stimuli. In an acute MPTP-induced PD model, NLRC5 deficiency significantly reduced dopaminergic system degeneration and ameliorated motor deficits and striatal inflammation. Furthermore, we found that NLRC5 deficiency decreased the expression of the proinflammatory genes IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α and COX2 in primary microglia and primary astrocytes treated with neuroinflammatory stimuli and reduced the inflammatory response in mixed glial cells in response to LPS treatment. Moreover, NLRC5 deficiency suppressed activation of the NF-κB and MAPK signaling pathways and enhanced the activation of AKT–GSK-3β and AMPK signaling in mixed glial cells. Furthermore, NLRC5 deficiency increased the survival of primary neurons treated with MPP+ or conditioned medium from LPS-stimulated mixed glial cells and promoted activation of the NF-κB and AKT signaling pathways. Moreover, the mRNA expression of NLRC5 was decreased in the blood of PD patients compared to healthy subjects. Therefore, we suggest that NLRC5 promotes neuroinflammation and dopaminergic degeneration in PD and may serve as a marker of glial activation.

Carboplatin effect on canine benign mixed tumour-derived cells cultured under three-dimension system: apoptosis, cell viability and mitochondrial dysfunction

Canine mammary carcinomas represent an important pathology in small animal clinic, and benign mixed type carcinomas (MC-BMT) are one of the most diagnosed worldwide. The use of chemotherapeutic carboplatin has been one of the new protocols for the treatment of BMT. In this respect, three-dimensional cell culture (3D) represents an alternative in the evaluation of drugs by simulating what occurs in vivo. The present study aimed to verify the effect of carboplatin on 3D culture of cells derived from TMB, in addition to possible changes in cell viability, ballpoint size, apoptosis and Bcl-2/Bax ratio. For this, tumours samples were collected during mastectomy surgery procedure in private veterinary clinics, which were submitted to in vitro culture and part to histopathological analysis. After 28 days of 3D culture, spheroids were documented in both groups (treated and control) and sizes and morphology were compared. The carboplatin interfered in the cell viability by affecting their division and promoting apoptotic events. In the treated group, a higher transcription of Bax and caspase 3 was observed, in addition to low levels of caspases 2, 8 and 9, which was not observed in the control group. We thus suggest that mitochondrial dysfunction plays a critical role in cancer progression and that targeting mitochondrial alterations and mitochondrial retrograde signalling might be a promising strategy for the development of selective anticancer therapy. Thus, it was possible to demonstrate that the results achieved may contribute to the establishment of a new chemotherapy therapy in female dogs with MC-BMT.

Abstract 5139: Chemerin suppresses prostate tumor growth by modulating the recruitment of NK and CD8+ T-cells to tumor microenvironment

Abstract Infiltration of immune cells into the tumor microenvironment (TME) can regulate growth and survival of malignant cells, thereby affecting tumorigenesis and tumor progression. While immune checkpoint inhibitors and agonism of costimulatory molecules can act to stimulate leukocytes, the lack of adequate recruitment of effector cells into TME often results in suboptimal immune responses. Chemerin (retinoic acid receptor responder 2, RARRES2) is an endogenous chemoattractant that is widely expressed by many tissues and recruits innate leukocytes through its receptor, CMKLR1 which is expressed on NK cells, some dendritic cells, and macrophages. Previous studies show that RARRES2 is downregulated across multiple tumor types including prostate cancer. Here, using a syngeneic transgenic adenocarcinoma mouse prostate (TRAMP-C1) model, we show that forced overexpression of RARRES2 by tumor cells results in significant tumor suppression and recruitment of NK and CD8+ T-cells within the TME. Male C57/BL/6 mice were inoculated with either RARRES2-overexpressing, vector control (VC) or mixed (50:50; VC: RARRES2) TRAMP-C1 cells. Chemerin overexpression in TRAMP-C1 cells did not alter their phenotypic behavior in vitro, but significantly suppressed tumor growth in vivo in mice. Furthermore, we observed a significantly higher influx of NK (CD3-CD19-NK1.1+) and CD8+ T-cells (CD3+CD8+) in tumor-infiltrating leukocytes (TILs) from mice with mixed tumors compared with VC tumors. Depletion of NK cells, CD4+, or CD8+ T cells showed that NK cells and CD8+ T-cells, but not CD4+ T-cells, were required for chemerin-dependent suppression of TRAMP-C1 tumor growth. We found significant increases in splenic NK and CD8 T cells, and a concomitant significant decrease in splenic G-MDSC in mice with chemerin-expressing tumors compared to controls, suggesting chemerin expression within the TME has an effect on systemic immune responses. Treatment of control tumors with anti-PD1 checkpoint inhibition did not result in significant tumor suppression, while anti-PD1 treatment of chemerin-expressing tumors significantly reduced tumor growth, doubling the complete response rate in these unresponsive tumors. Thus, for the first time we have demonstrated that increasing chemerin expression within the prostate TME can suppress growth by augmenting recruitment of NK and CD8+ T-cells and has the potential to be combined with checkpoint inhibitors in order to improve response rates in non-responsive tumors. Overall, these data suggest that a tumor-targeted chemerin therapeutic may have potential to treat human prostate cancers. Citation Format: Muhammad A. Saeed, Kevin Kim, Russell K. Pachynski. Chemerin suppresses prostate tumor growth by modulating the recruitment of NK and CD8+ T-cells to tumor microenvironment. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2023; Part 1 (Regular and Invited Abstracts); 2023 Apr 14-19; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2023;83(7_Suppl):Abstract nr 5139.

Preparation of Primary Mixed Glial Cell Cultures from Adult Mouse Spinal Cord Tissue.

Central nervous system glial cells are known to mediate many neurocognitive/neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases. Similar glial responses have been recognized as critical factors contributing to the development of diseases in the peripheral nervous system, including various types of peripheral neuropathies, such as peripheral nerve injury-induced neuropathic pain, diabetic neuropathy, and HIV-associated sensory neuropathy. Investigation of the central mechanisms of these peripherally-manifested diseases often requires the examination of spinal cord glial cells at cellular/molecular levels in vitro. When using rodent models to study these diseases, many investigators have chosen to use neonatal cerebral cortices to prepare glial cultures or immortalized cell lines in order to obtain sufficient numbers of cells for assessment. However, differences in responses between cell lines versus primary cultures, neonatal vs. adult cells, and brain vs. spinal cord cells may result in misleading data. Here, we describe a protocol for preparing mixed glial cells from adult mouse spinal cord that can be used for direct in vitro evaluations or further preparation of microglia-enriched and microglia-depleted cells. In this protocol, spinal cord tissue is enzymatically dissociated and adult mixed glial cells are ready to be used between 12 and 14 days after the establishment of the culture. This protocol may be further refined to prepare spinal cord glial cells from spinal cord tissues of adult rats and potentially other species. Mixed glial cultures can be prepared from animals of different strains or post-in vivo manipulations and therefore are suitable for studying a variety of diseases/disorders that involve spinal cord pathological changes, such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and multiple sclerosis, as well as toxin-induced changes. © 2023 Wiley Periodicals LLC. Basic Protocol: Preparation of primary mixed glial cell cultures from adult mouse spinal cord tissue.

High performance flexible Sn-Pb mixed perovskite solar cells enabled by a crosslinking additive

Flexible perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have drawn increasing attention due to their promising applications for wearable electronics and aerospace applications. However, the efficiency and stability of flexible PSCs still lag behind their rigid counterparts. Here, we use N,N-dimethyl acrylamide (DMAA) to in situ synthesize cross-linking polymer for flexible Sn–Pb mixed PSCs. DMAA can gather at grain boundary as a scaffold to regulate the crystallization of perovskite and reduce defects. The rigid and flexible Sn–Pb mixed PSCs showed efficiencies of 16.44% and 15.44%, respectively. In addition, the flexible Sn–Pb mixed PSCs demonstrated excellent bending durability, which retained over 80% of the original efficiency after 5000 bending cycles at a radius of 5 mm.

A dielectrophoresis-based platform of cancerous cells capture using aptamer-functionalized gold nanoparticles in a microfluidic channel.

In this paper, a microfluidic chip for the manipulation and capture of cancer cells was introduce. In which, the combination of dielectrophoresis (DEP) and a binding method based on chemical interactions by using cell-specific aptamer was performed to enhance the capture strength and specificity. The device has been simply constructed from a straight-channel PDMS placed on a glass substrate that patterned electrode structures and a self-assembled monolayer (SAM) of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs). The target cells were transported to the manipulation area by flow and attracted down to the region between the electrodes under the influence of positive dielectrophoresis force (pDEP). This approach facilitated subsequent selective capture by the modified aptamers on the AuNPs. The distribution of the electric field in the channel has also been simulated to clarify the DEP operation. As a result, the device has been shown to effectively capture target lung cancer cells with a concentration as low as cells/mL. The capture specificity in a sample of mixed cells is up to 80.4%. This technique has the potential to be applied to detection methods for many types of cancer. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Immobilization of mixed cells by Flaxseeds (Linum usitatissimum) extract as new nonconventional biocarrier for biodegradation of sodium dodecyl sulfate

Flaxseeds as a new nonconventional biocarrier was used for the first time to immobilize mixed bacterial cells for biodegradation of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) in actual wastewaters. The results revealed that SDS elimination efficiency in domestic wastewater (DWW) and household detergents manufacturing wastewater (HWW) were 98.8% and 94.5%, respectively. The immobilized cells were repeatedly used for 60 batches without notable loss of their bioactivity, mechanical and chemical stability. Seven kinetic models were applied to depict the interrelation between cells growth and substrate consumption which were; Blackman, Monod, Haldane, Teissier, Moser, Han-Levenspiel, and Contois Models. Teissier model fit well the experimental data with lowest sum of squares error (SSE) of 2.41 × 10−14 indicating exponential growth of biocatalyst inside the biocarrier. Endogenous rate constant (Kd), and yield coefficient (Y) were found to be 0.0039 h−1, and 0.44 h−1, respectively. Values of first order rate constant (K1), effective diffusivity (De), mass transfer coefficient, effectiveness factor (η), and Thiele modulus (Φ) were found to be 1.55 × 10−5 s−1, 6.44×10−7 cm2/s, 2.14×10−6 cm/s, 0.88, and 0.49, respectively. Values of oxygen uptake rate (OUR), volumetric oxygen mass transfer coefficient (KLa) and oxygen transfer rate (OTR) were 0.0013 mg O2/L. s, 0.0222 s−1 and 0.00111 mg O2/L. s, respectively. Experimental and predicted results of (OUR) were in a good agreement with determination coefficient (R2) of 0.94.

Synergetic effect of Leucophyllum frutescens and Ehretia microphylla dyes in enhancing the photovoltaic performance of dye-sensitized solar cells.

The use of new natural dyes derived from Leucophyllum frutescens and Ehretia microphylla as well as their combination in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) has been explored for the first time in the current work. The primary pigments that sensitize the semiconductor TiO2 films were found to be carotenoid, anthocyanin, and chlorophyll. Pigments from Leucophyllum frutescens and Ehretia microphylla were designated as LF and EM, and their mixture blended at volume percent of 50:50, 75:25, and 25:75 were labeled as LE1, LE2, and LE3, respectively. The absorption range, emission intensities, and the functional groups of the dyes and dye-loaded TiO2 photo-anode films were analyzed using ultraviolet-visible, photoluminescence and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The surface morphology of bare and sensitized TiO2 films was identified through scanning electron microscopy (SEM). To evaluate the photovoltaic performance of the fabricated devices, the current-voltage characteristics, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy analysis and incident photon-to-current conversion efficiency measurements were performed. The study found that the co-sensitized cell LE2 outperformed both single and mixed dye-based cells, achieving a maximum conversion efficiency of 1.33% with a Voc of 516mV and a Jsc of 2.55mAcm-2. This synergetic effect of natural dyes proved the superior performance of DSSCs with co-sensitization.

Managing iodine and tin based defects for efficient and stable mixed Sn-Pb perovskite solar cells

In recent hotly researched tin–lead (Sn-Pb) mix perovskite solar cells (PSCs), the oxidation of Sn2+ is not an isolated process but accompanied by the oxidation of I− to I2, which are both responsible for the severe p-doping and complex defect situation. Diffusion of interstitial I further severely corrodes the metal electrode to fail the PSC. Thereby, managing the I− oxidation and meanwhile neutralizing the movable I− together with suppressing Sn2+ oxidation is quite a challenge for efficient and stable Sn-Pb PSCs. In this work, a natural reductive amino acid (DOPA) is introduced into perovskite layer to successfully inhibit the oxidation of both Sn2+ and I−, at the same time, neutralize the diffusive I− to protect the Ag electrode from corrosion. Benefiting from the improved chemistry situation, the DOPA doped PSC shows significantly promoted photovoltage and efficiency at AM1.5, with enhanced light and shelf stability. This work highlights the importance of I defects management to achieve efficient and stable Sn-Pb PSCs.

Compatible and energy conserving multi-material arbitrary Lagrangian Eulerian scheme for multi-group radiation hydrodynamics simulations

A compatible, bounds preserving and energy conserving multi-material arbitrary Lagrangian Eulerian (ALE) scheme suitable for an unstructured mesh is developed for multi-group radiation hydrodynamics (RHD) simulation of various high energy density physics (HEDP) phenomena involving large material deformations, such as intense thermal radiation or high-power laser driven systems. In order to study very short time scale HEDP phenomena, the electron and ion energy equations (with the effect of electron-ion energy relaxation) are solved separately with an assumption of single macroscopic fluid velocity for each species (two-temperature hydrodynamics model). The governing multi-material hydrodynamics equations are solved by using a higher-order cell-centered hydrodynamics (CCH) scheme. In multi-material flows, the remapping step introduces mixed computational cells in which multiple materials exist in a single cell. Therefore, material interfaces in mixed cells are required to be reconstructed and tracked. In our implementation, this is achieved by using moment-of-fluid (MOF) method. The information of these interfaces is further used to formulate an interface aware sub-scale dynamics (IASSD) scheme for multi-material closure in mixed computational cells. The IASSD scheme is generalized for the two-temperature hydrodynamics model in which separate equations are used to update the electron and ion energies. The multi-group radiation transport on an unstructured mesh is computed using a cell-centered, monotonic, nonlinear finite volume (NLFV) scheme. The flux-limited diffusion (FLD) approximation is used to recover the free-streaming limit of the radiation propagation in optically thin regions. In the ALE step, the electron, ion and radiation energies due to MG-RHD model are conservatively remapped using a center-of-mass (CM) reconstruction of the fields and a compatible and energy conserving remapping scheme. An exact integration based on the intersection between the new (rezoned) and old meshes is used in the remap step. Similar procedure is followed for the remap of cell mass and cell-centered momentum components. In this paper, the details of a compatible, bounds preserving and conservative ALE scheme developed for MG-RHD are described. The remapping of relevant physical quantities due to multi-physics models implemented in the code such as non-local electron energy transport are also discussed. Several validation test problems including laser driven shock propagation in multi-material geometries are provided to demonstrate the accuracy and performance of the ALE scheme implemented.

Comparative study of the optical, structural, and solar cell performance of (MAPbBr3)x(FAPbI3)1-x(MACl)0.33 mixed perovskite solar cells: With and without the passivation layer

The phases formed and crystallinity of the (MAPbBr3)x(FAPbI3)1-x(MACl)0.33 mixed perovskite films with or without n-Octylammonium iodide (OAI, passive layer) were investigated using X-ray diffraction technique. The effects of passivation and MAPbBr3 on the linear optical parameters and emitted colors of the formed films were explored using UV-spectrophotometer and photoluminescence techniques. Films without MAPbBr3 (without and with OAI) have optical band gap value of 1.55 and 1.54 eV, respectively. This value was increased to 1.58 and 1.56 eV as the amount of MAPbBr3 increased to 5% in the case of films without or with OAI, respectively. Film (without OAI) with 5% MAPbBr3 and films (with OAI) with 3 and 5% MAPbBr3 have the highest nonlinear optical parameters in the visible range. The power conversion efficiency (PCE) value increased to its maximum (20.3%) as the film has an OAI layer and is Br ion free.

Triangular metric-based mesh adaptation for compressible multi-material flows in semi-Lagrangian coordinates

In this paper, we propose an adaptive mesh refinement method for 2D multi-material compressible non-viscous flows in semi-Lagrangian coordinates.The mesh adaptation procedure is local and relies on a discrete metric field evaluation. The remapping method is second-order accurate and we prove its stability. We propose a multi-material treatment using two ingredients: the local remeshing is performed in a way that reduces as much as possible the creation of mixed cells and an interface reconstruction method that can be used to avoid the diffusion of the material interfaces.The obtained method is almost Lagrangian and can be implemented in a parallel framework. We provide some numerical tests which attest the validity of the method and its robustness.

Assessment of some incipient caries risk factors in adolescents

Relevance. Risk assessment of carious lesion onset remains relevant due to the high incidence rate. The article presents the data on the impact of permanent dental enamel functional condition and microbial factor on incipient caries onset in adolescents.Purpose: The study aimed to investigate the etiology and pathogenesis risk characteristics of incipient caries onset in adolescents.Material and methods. The study included 90 adolescents aged 11-17 y.o. from Penza city. At the clinical stage, we studied adolescents’ permanent teeth vulnerability to caries; then, we formed the study groups according to WHO criteria (Group 1 – moderate, Group 2 – high, Group 3 – the very high intensity of caries) and Group 4 included children of the same age without caries. Vital staining and electric pulp testing with the “DentEst” device (Geosoft, Russia) detected white spot lesions. The OHI-S and enamel acid resistance test (TER-test) evaluated the level of oral hygiene. The laboratory stage determined the number of mixed saliva cells contaminated with bacterial microflora (microflora contamination coefficient) to define the bacterial load in the mixed saliva of the examined adolescents.Results. Besides high clinical rate of white spot lesions (intensity rate 3.10 ± 0.05 and demineralization degree 5.90 ± 0.08 μA) linked to poor oral hygiene level according to OHI-S (2.80 ± 0.13), the examined children of Group 3 (very high caries intensity) revealed a decrease in enamel acid resistance (TER-test 6.50 ± 0.22) and increased bacterial load of mixed saliva – microflora contamination coefficient (48.12 ± 0.80%). Differences with the same parameters in Group 4 (without caries) were statistically significant (P < 0.05). The study of the statistical relationship between enamel demineralization degree and the level of mixed saliva bacterial load (microflora contamination coefficient) detected a positive correlation between the studied parameters of moderate and high power and received the following correlation coefficient values in Group 1 (R = 0.46), 2 and 3 (R = 0.73 and R = 0.78) respectively.Conclusion. Assessment of some risk factors for white spot lesion onset and monitoring of changes may include the analysis of clinical and laboratory data on the hard-dental-tissue condition and mixed saliva bacterial load determination (microflora contamination coefficient).