Plasmon-Enhanced Direct-Detection Method for Boosted Sub-MeV Dark Matter.

A plasmon, a collective mode of electronic excitation in solid-state detectors, provides a novel way to detect light dark matter (DM). In this work, we present the conditions of DM to produce a plasmon resonance, requiring relativistic velocities for light DM, and generalize the collective excitation framework to account for relativistic DM. As a demonstration, we consider the cosmic ray boosted DM and find that the plasmon resonance can be significantly enhanced in the scenario with a light mediator.

Effectiveness of Nurse-Driven Protocols in Reducing Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infections: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Background: Catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTIs) are common health care-associated infections linked to indwelling urinary catheters. Nurse-driven protocols (NDPs) empower nurses to direct care without physician orders, potentially enhancing patient outcomes and reducing infection rates.

Purpose: This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of NDPs for preventing CAUTIs and reducing catheter utilization rates.

Multi-scale feature fusion for pavement crack detection based on Transformer.

Automated pavement crack image segmentation presents a significant challenge due to the difficulty in detecting slender cracks on complex pavement backgrounds, as well as the significant impact of lighting conditions. In this paper, we propose a novel approach for automated pavement crack detection using a multi-scale feature fusion network based on the Transformer architecture, leveraging an encoding-decoding structure. In the encoding phase, the Transformer is leveraged as a substitute for the convolution operation, which utilizes global modeling to enhance feature extraction capabilities and address long-distance dependence.

Search for Light Dark Matter from the Atmosphere in PandaX-4T.

We report a search for light dark matter produced through the cascading decay of η mesons, which are created as a result of inelastic collisions between cosmic rays and Earth's atmosphere. We introduce a new and general framework, publicly accessible, designed to address boosted dark matter specifically, with which a full and dedicated simulation including both elastic and quasielastic processes of Earth attenuation effect on the dark matter particles arriving at the detector is performed. In the PandaX-4T commissioning data of 0.

Dynamics of Neutral and Charged Nanodiamonds in Aqueous Media Confined between Gold Surfaces under Normal and Shear Loading.

The dynamics of cubo-octahedral nanodiamonds (NDs) with three different surface treatments and confined in aqueous environments between gold surfaces under shear and normal loading conditions have been characterized via molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. The treatments consisted of carboxyl (-COO) or amino (-NH ) groups attached to the NDs, producing either negatively or positively charged NDs, respectively, and hydrogen-terminated surfaces producing neutral NDs. Simulations were performed in the presence and absence of induced image charges to explore the impact of electrostatic interactions on friction and surface deformation.

Effect of Indoors Artificial Lighting Conditions on Computer-Based Learning Performance.

Lighting condition is essential to human performance. With the widespread use of computer-based learning, the performance measurements become difficult, and the effects of artificial lighting conditions towards the new learning forms are not investigated extensively. The current study conducts a subject-within experiment with a 45-min-long online learning along with electroencephalogram (EEG)-based measurements, and a post-interview under five lighting setups respectively (300 lx, 3000 K; 300 lx, 4000 K; 300 lx, 6500 K; 500 lx, 4000 K; 1000 lx, 4000 K).

Interdependent Roles of Electrostatics and Surface Functionalization on the Adhesion Strengths of Nanodiamonds to Gold in Aqueous Environments Revealed by Molecular Dynamics Simulations.

Molecular dynamics simulations demonstrate that adhesion strengths as a function of charge for aqueous nanodiamonds (NDs) interacting with a gold substrate result from an interdependence of electrostatics and surface functionalization. The simulations reveal a water layer containing Na counterions between a negative ND with surface -COO functional groups that is not present for a positively charged ND with -NH functional groups. The closer proximity of the positive ND to the gold surface and the lack of cancelation of electrostatic interactions due to counterions and the water layer lead to an electrostatic adhesion force for the positive ND that is nearly three times larger than that of the negative ND.