In the present work, we investigate the electronic and elastic properties in equilibrium and under strain of the type-II Dirac semimetal NiTe2 using density functional theory. Our results demonstrate the tunability of Dirac nodes' energy and momentum with strain and that it is possible to bring them closer to the Fermi level, while other metallic bands are suppressed. We also derive a minimal 4-band effective model for the Dirac cones, which accounts for the aforementioned strain effects by means of lattice regularization, providing an inexpensive way for further theoretical investigations and easy comparison with experiments. On an equal footing, we propose the static control of the electronic structure by intercalating alkali species into the van der Waals gap, resulting in the same effects obtained by strain engineering and removing the requirement of in situ strain. Finally, evaluating the wave-function's symmetry evolution as the lattice is deformed, we discuss possible consequences, such as Liftshitz transitions and the coexistence of type-I and type-II Dirac cones, thus motivating future investigations.

Electronic correlations stemming from nearly flat bands in van der Waals materials have demonstrated to be a powerful playground to engineer artificial quantum matter, including superconductors, correlated insulators and topological matter. This phenomenology has been experimentally observed in a variety of twisted van der Waals materials, such as graphene and dichalcogenide multilayers. Here we show that spontaneously buckled graphene can yield a correlated state, emerging from an elastic pseudo Landau level. Our results build on top of recent experimental findings reporting that, when placed on top of hBN or NbSe₂ substrates, wrinkled graphene sheets relax forming a periodic, long-range buckling pattern. The low-energy physics can be accurately described by electrons in the presence of a pseudo-axial gauge field, leading to the formation of sublattice-polarized Landau levels. Moreover, we verify that the high density of states at the zeroth Landau level leads to the formation of a periodically modulated ferrimagnetic groundstate, which can be controlled by the application of external electric fields. Our results indicate that periodically strained graphene is a versatile platform to explore emergent electronic states arising from correlated elastic Landau levels.

MIS-SIM is a virtual reality (VR) environment designed and developed for the creation of virtual scenarios that can be used to train and acquire basic and advance laparoscopic skills. The environment is composed by a task editor where a content creator design and develop tasks for the simulator to play. Once they are completed, objective metrics are automatically stored and examined in MIS-SIM’s server so they can be displayed by an online platform. The project was validated in Semmelweis University in Budapest, Hungary where an experienced professor designed tasks for 16 young surgeons (PGY 3-4-5) from different surgical fields (gynaecology, general-, plastic-, vascular-, thoracic-, neurosurgery, etc.) with different experiences in laparoscopy. Each participant fulfilled each task as if they were completing them on physical simulator.