Quantitative measurement of magnetic parameters by electron magnetic chiral dichroism

Electron magnetic circular dichroism opens a new door to explore magnetic properties by transmitted electrons in the transmission electron microscope. However, obtaining quantitative magnetic parameters, such as spin and orbital magnetic moment with element-specificity, goes a long way along with the development and improvement of this technique both in theoretical and experimental aspects. In this review, we will give a detailed description of the quantitative electron magnetic circular dichroism（EMCD） technique to measure magnetic parameters with spin-specificity, element-specificity,site-specificity, and orbital-spin-specificity. The discussion completely contains the procedures from raw experimental data acquisition to final magnetic parameters, together with the related custom code we have developed.

Estimation and verification of green tide biomass based on UAV remote sensing

Since 2007,the Yellow Sea green tide has broken out every summer,causing great harm to the environment and society.Although satellite remote sensing(RS)has been used in biomass research,there are several shortcomings,such as mixed pixels,atmospheric interference,and difficult field validation.The biomass of green tide has been lacking a high-precision estimation method.In this study,high-resolution unmanned aerial vehicle(UAV)RS was used to quantitatively map the biomass of green tides.By utilizing experimental data from previous studies,a robust relationship was established to link biomass to the red-green-blue floating algae index(RGB-FAI).Then,the lab-based model for green tide biomass from visible images taken by the UAV camera was developed and validated by field measurements.Re sults show that the accurate and cost-effective method is able to estimate the green tide biomass and its changes in given local waters of the near and far seas.The study provided an effective complement to the traditional satellite RS,as well as high-precision quantitative techniques for decision-making in disaster management.

Recent advances in quantifying the inactive lithium and failure mechanism of Li anodes in rechargeable lithium metal batteries

Lithium metal is considered as the ultimate anode material for the next generation of high-energy density batteries.However,non-uniform lithium dendrite growth,serious electrolyte consumption,and significant volume changes during lithium deposition/stripping processes lead to sustained accumulation of inactive lithium and poor cycling reversibility.Quantifying the formation and evolution of inactive lithium under different conditions and fully evaluating the complex failure modes are the key issues in this challenging field.This article comprehensively reviews recent research progress on the quantification of formation and evolution of inactive lithium detected by different quantitative techniques in rechargeable lithium metal batteries.The key research challenges such as failure mechanism,modification strategies and operando characterization of lithium metal anodes are systematically summarized and prospected.This review provides a new angle of view to understand failure mechanism of lithium metal anodes and inspiration and guidance for the future development of rechargeable lithium metal batteries.

Spectral matching techniques (SMTs) and automated cropland classification algorithms (ACCAs) for mapping croplands of Australia using MODIS 250-m time-series (2000–2015) data

Mapping croplands,including fallow areas,are an important measure to determine the quantity of food that is produced,where they are produced,and when they are produced(e.g.seasonality).Furthermore,croplands are known as water guzzlers by consuming anywhere between 70%and 90%of all human water use globally.Given these facts and the increase in global population to nearly 10 billion by the year 2050,the need for routine,rapid,and automated cropland mapping year-after-year and/or season-after-season is of great importance.The overarching goal of this study was to generate standard and routine cropland products,year-after-year,over very large areas through the use of two novel methods:(a)quantitative spectral matching techniques(QSMTs)applied at continental level and(b)rule-based Automated Cropland Classification Algorithm(ACCA)with the ability to hind-cast,now-cast,and future-cast.Australia was chosen for the study given its extensive croplands,rich history of agriculture,and yet nonexistent routine yearly generated cropland products using multi-temporal remote sensing.This research produced three distinct cropland products using Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer(MODIS)250-m normalized difference vegetation index 16-day composite time-series data for 16 years:2000 through 2015.The products consisted of:(1)cropland extent/areas versus cropland fallow areas,(2)irrigated versus rainfed croplands,and(3)cropping intensities:single,double,and continuous cropping.An accurate reference cropland product(RCP)for the year 2014(RCP2014)produced using QSMT was used as a knowledge base to train and develop the ACCA algorithm that was then applied to the MODIS time-series data for the years 2000–2015.A comparison between the ACCA-derived cropland products(ACPs)for the year 2014(ACP2014)versus RCP2014 provided an overall agreement of 89.4%(kappa=0.814)with six classes:(a)producer’s accuracies varying between 72%and 90%and(b)user’s accuracies varying between 79%and 90%.ACPs for the individual years 2000–2013 and 2015(ACP2000–ACP2013,ACP2015)showed very strong similarities with several other studies.The extent and vigor of the Australian croplands versus cropland fallows were accurately captured by the ACCA algorithm for the years 2000–2015,thus highlighting the value of the study in food security analysis.

Accuracy of a new rapid diagnostic test for urinary antigen detection and assessment of drug treatment in opisthorchiasis

Background Screening for opisthorchiasis,a parasitic worm infection affecting many millions of people in Southeast Asia,has traditionally relied on faecal egg examination such as the formalin-ethyl acetate concentration technique(FECT)and Kato-Katz method.Although the urinary enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA)has been used more recently,we developed a urinary antigen-based rapid diagnostic test(RDT)to simplify diagnosis and as a point-of-care testing(POCT)and field applications for surveillance and control of opisthorchiasis.Methods A urinaryOpisthorchis viverrini(OV)-RDT was developed using immunochromatographic methodology with a specific monoclonal antibody against OV.The diagnostic performance of the urinary OV-RDT was compared to that of quantitative faecal FECT and urinary antigen ELISA(n=493).Cross-reactivities of urinary OV-RDT with other helminthiases coexisted withO.viverrini were determined(n=96).A field trial in the application of urinary OV-RDT was compared with urinary antigen ELISA at baseline screening and assessment of drug treatment outcomes in opisthorchiasis(n=1629).The McNemar chi-square,Kruskal-Wallis and Cohen’s kappa coefficient(κ-value)tests were used for statistical analyses.Results Urinary OV-RDT had sensitivity of 94.2%and specificity of 93.2%,compared to faecal FECT.Urinary OV-RDT had high diagnostic agreement(Kappa=0.842-0.874,P<0.001)and quantitative correlation with urinary antigen ELISA(Kruskal-Wallis tests=316.2,P<0.0001)and faecal FECT(Kruskal-Wallis tests=362.3,P<0.0001).The positive rates by OV-RDT,ELISA and FECT were 48.9%,52.5%and 49.3%,respectively.Cross-reactions of urinary OV-RDT with other helminthiases were few(2%).Field trials of urinary OV-RDT yielded comparable prevalence ofO.viverrini between urinary OV-RDT(53.2%)and urinary antigen ELISA(54.0%).OV screening showed high diagnostic agreement(kappa>0.8,P<0.0001)between urinary OV-RDT and urinary antigen ELISA.The cure rates of opisthorchiasis at 1 month post-praziquantel treatment determined by urinary OV-RDT(86.6%)and urinary antigen ELISA(80.5%)were similar(P>0.05).Conclusions The urinary OV-RDT test has high potential as a new tool for screening and evaluating treatment outcomes in opisthorchiasis.The ease of sample collection and simplicity of urinary OV-RDT may facilitate mass screening,control and elimination of opisthorchiasis,thereby contributing to a reduction in the disease burden in Southeast Asia.