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The present study investigated agentive one-on-one intercultural communication between L2 English-speaking international faculty and their L2 English-speaking host colleagues in relation to identity (re)construction. Two foreign professors and their Chinese faculty colleagues participated in the study. The research instruments consisted of reflective journal writing and in-depth, semi-structured interviews. The results indicated that the occasions of the faculty’s communication at Chinese universities were both influenced by and influenced a number of factors. These factors represented self- and other-positioning, agency, appropriation of native speakerism, face-threatening acts, and alterity. Based on the findings of the study, research implications are provided.

TiS2is a transition metal dichalcogenide with semiconducting transport properties, and is considered a potential thermoelectric material owing to its relatively low lattice thermal conductivity originated from van der Waals stacking. In this study, the evolution of electrical and thermal transport properties of TiS2by solid solution alloying with TiSe2are investigated systematically regarding thermoelectric properties. A series of solid solution compositions of Ti(S1 − xSex)2(x= 0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, and 0.5) polycrystalline samples was synthesized by a conventional solid-state reaction, wherein no secondary phase was formed. As xincreased, the electrical conductivity and carrier concentration gradually increased, while the Seebeck coefficient decreased. Consequently, the power factor decreased. On the other hand, the lattice thermal conductivity is reduced largely to 0.96 W/mK for x= 0.5 at 300 K, compared to 2.3 W/mK for the pristine TiS2sample. Consequently, the thermoelectric figure of merit zTof TiS2was enhanced by solid solution allying with TiSe2, despite deterioration of the electrical transport properties. The maximum zTof 0.41 was observed for x= 0.4 (Ti(S0.6Se0.4)2) at 500 K.

Water molecules can bind to zwitterionic polymers, such as carboxybetaine and sulfobetaine, forming strong hydration layers along the polymer chains. Such hydration layers act as a barrier to impede the attachment of marine fouling organisms; therefore, zwitterionic polymer coatings have been of considerable interest as marine antifouling coatings. However, recent studies have shown that severe adsorption of marine sediments occurs on zwitterionic-polymer-coated surfaces, resulting in the degradation of their marine antifouling performance. Therefore, a novel approach for forming amphiphilic zwitterionic polymers using zwitterionic and hydrophobic monomers is being investigated to simultaneously inhibit both sediment adsorption and marine fouling. In this study, amphiphilic zwitterionic thin polymer brushes composed of sulfobetaine methacrylate (SBMA) and trifluoroethyl methacrylate (TFEMA) were synthesized on Si/SiO2surfaces via surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization. For this, a facile metal-ion-mediated method was developed for immobilizing polymerization initiators on solid substrates to subsequently form poly(SBMA-co-TFEMA) brushes on the initiator-coated substrate surface. Poly(SBMA-co-TFEMA) brushes with various SBMA/TFEMA ratios were prepared to determine the composition at which both marine diatom adhesion and sediment adsorption can be prevented effectively. The results indicate that poly(SBMA-co-TFEMA) brushes prepared with an SBMA/TFEMA ratio of 3:7 effectively inhibit both sediment adsorption and marine diatom adhesion, thereby exhibiting balanced marine antifouling properties. Thus, the findings of this study provide important insights into the design of amphiphilic marine antifouling materials.

Introduction:Recipient site preparation using external volume expansion (EVE) increases graft survival in large-volume fat grafting. To improve patient compliance with using the device, we tested a new cyclic high negative-pressure (CHNP) mode that involves 1 h/day at −55 mm Hg, cycled between 1-second negative-pressure activation, followed by a 2-second deactivation period in an animal model. Material and Method:A miniaturized EVE device was applied to 30 8-week-old male Sprague-Dawley rats. The rats were assigned to 3 groups (no pressure for the control group, conventional −25 mm Hg for 8 h/day for conventional EVE, and CHNP mode for the CHNP group). After 28 days, micro-computed tomography was performed and skin biopsy specimens were obtained. Results:The CHNP group showed a 6.6-fold increase and the conventional EVE group showed a 4.4-fold increase in volume compared to the control group. Hematoxylin and eosin staining showed a similar increase in subcutaneous tissue thickness in both EVE groups, compared to the control group. Masson's trichome and proliferating cell nuclear antigen staining showed significantly higher collagen deposition and subdermal adipocytes in EVE groups. Immunohistochemistry against platelet endothelial cell adhesion molecule 1 showed 2.5- and 2.7-times higher vessel density in the conventional and CHNP EVE groups, respectively. There was no statistically significant difference in subcutaneous tissue thickness, collagen deposition, subdermal adipocyte proliferation, and vessel density between the 2 EVE groups. Conclusion:CHNP produced comparable results in recipient site preparation (subcutaneous tissue thickening and angiogenesis) compared to the conventional protocol, while markedly reducing the daily wear-time from 8 hours to 1 hour. Although further clinical data must be acquired, our new pressure setting seems promising and provides a more patient-friendly pre-expansion environment.

Rare coding variants that substantially affect function provide insights into the biology of a gene1–3. However, ascertaining the frequency of such variants requires large sample sizes4–8. Here we present a catalogue of human protein-coding variation, derived from exome sequencing of 983,578 individuals across diverse populations. In total, 23% of the Regeneron Genetics Center Million Exome (RGC-ME) data come from individuals of African, East Asian, Indigenous American, Middle Eastern and South Asian ancestry. The catalogue includes more than 10.4 million missense and 1.1 million predicted loss-of-function (pLOF) variants. We identify individuals with rare biallelic pLOF variants in 4,848 genes, 1,751 of which have not been previously reported. From precise quantitative estimates of selection against heterozygous loss of function (LOF), we identify 3,988 LOF-intolerant genes, including 86 that were previously assessed as tolerant and 1,153 that lack established disease annotation. We also define regions of missense depletion at high resolution. Notably, 1,482 genes have regions that are depleted of missense variants despite being tolerant of pLOF variants. Finally, we estimate that 3% of individuals have a clinically actionable genetic variant, and that 11,773 variants reported in ClinVar with unknown significance are likely to be deleterious cryptic splice sites. To facilitate variant interpretation and genetics-informed precision medicine, we make this resource of coding variation from the RGC-ME dataset publicly accessible through a variant allele frequency browser.

This article presents a wideband 120-GHz CMOS polarization controllable I/Q transmitter for wireless short-range high-speed 6G Internet of Things (IoT). The transmitter consists of an I/Q modulator with a quadrature injection-locked oscillator (QILT) for 16-quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) and a polarization controller for mismatch reduction between TX and RX antennas. An I/Q calibration is applied to QILT to reduce the I/Q imbalance, and a 1-bit phase shifter and a variable-gain amplifier (VGA) with 8-dB gain control are used to control the linear polarization (LP) in a step of 22.5°. The transmitter was fabricated using a standard 40-nm CMOS process, and the chip size is 2.4 mm2 including pads with a total power consumption of 378 mW. The measured 3-dB bandwidth was 20 GHz with a peak gain of 13 dB, and the image rejection ratio (IMRR) was improved up to 37.8 dBc by applying the I/Q calibration. From the over-the-air (OTA) test, the measured isolation of the dual-polarized antenna was varied from 9 to 22 dB with the 3-dB baseband (BB) bandwidth of 12 GHz. The proposed work achieved the maximum data rate of 20 Gb/s for both quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) and 16-QAM, and the corresponding error vector magnitudes (EVMs) were −13.4 and −19.1 dB, respectively.

This study proposes an approach to enhance frequency characteristics for AlGaN/gallium nitride (GaN) high-electron-mobility transistors (HEMTs) by employing an air-bridged source-connected field plate to an asymmetric passivation structure. To overcome simulation limitations, we performed the device simulation by matching simulated results with measured data, applying various simulation models, and performing comparative analysis of frequency characteristics between simulated and calculated values using a small-signal equivalent circuit. Thus, the simulation results were well matched with the measured data, achieving an error rate of 1.4%, confirming the device simulation reliability. Asymmetric passivation HEMT for conventional source-connected field plate structures exhibited reduced parasitic capacitances, with notable increased cutoff and maximum oscillation frequencies by 21.7% and 7.8%, respectively. We applied an additional air-bridged source-connected field plate structure to the asymmetric passivation HEMT to further enhance RF performance, significantly increasing cutoff frequency by 31.6% compared with asymmetric passivation with source-connected field plate structure. These results represent outstanding RF performance without any degradation of dc characteristics.

Superhydrophobic surfaces have gained significant research attention for various applications, such as self-cleaning and microfluidics. To develop superhydrophobic surfaces, diverse materials and structures are used to reduce the surface energy. Specific coatings can control the intrinsic contact angle (CA) by reducing the surface energy of a material. In this study, we fabricated and evaluated polymeric superhydrophobic surfaces. The superhydrophobic surfaces exhibited microstructures consisting of two different polymers. To evaluate the wetting properties, we calculated the theoretical Cassie and Wenzel models of the surfaces and compared them to the experimental CA and roll-off angle (ROA). Furthermore, we measured the wetting properties of the surfaces by coating them with octafluorocyclobutane (C4F8) to confirm the effect of coating on the surfaces. This coated surface can control the wetting properties regardless of the material composition, demonstrating the stability of the superhydrophobic surface.

Polydopamine is extensively researched in multiple disciplines due to its ability to coat various solid substrates and undergo secondary functionalization. However, a drawback of polydopamine is its tendency to degrade under strong alkaline conditions. This study aims to address this limitation. Specifically, it is observed that the stability of polydopamine significantly increases when it forms a complex with zirconium (IV). Furthermore, the polydopamine/zirconium (IV) complex demonstrates efficient incorporation of amine compounds, opening up possibilities for further applications. ZrIVcoordination chemistry was used to enhance the stability of polydopamine coatings. The polydopamine coating with ZrIVremained stable even when subjected to strong alkaline conditions and ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) treatment. The polydopamine/ZrIVcomplex coating also demonstrated efficient incorporation of amine compounds.

The Pharma Proteomics Project is a precompetitive biopharmaceutical consortium characterizing the plasma proteomic profiles of 54,219 UK Biobank participants. Here we provide a detailed summary of this initiative, including technical and biological validations, insights into proteomic disease signatures, and prediction modelling for various demographic and health indicators. We present comprehensive protein quantitative trait locus (pQTL) mapping of 2,923 proteins that identifies 14,287 primary genetic associations, of which 81% are previously undescribed, alongside ancestry-specific pQTL mapping in non-European individuals. The study provides an updated characterization of the genetic architecture of the plasma proteome, contextualized with projected pQTL discovery rates as sample sizes and proteomic assay coverages increase over time. We offer extensive insights into transpQTLs across multiple biological domains, highlight genetic influences on ligand–receptor interactions and pathway perturbations across a diverse collection of cytokines and complement networks, and illustrate long-range epistatic effects of ABOblood group and FUT2secretor status on proteins with gastrointestinal tissue-enriched expression. We demonstrate the utility of these data for drug discovery by extending the genetic proxied effects of protein targets, such as PCSK9, on additional endpoints, and disentangle specific genes and proteins perturbed at loci associated with COVID-19 susceptibility. This public–private partnership provides the scientific community with an open-access proteomics resource of considerable breadth and depth to help to elucidate the biological mechanisms underlying proteo-genomic discoveries and accelerate the development of biomarkers, predictive models and therapeutics1.

This paper presents a novel 3-dimensional hybrid segmented layer model (3D HSLM) for coreless axial-flux permanent magnet synchronous motors (AFPMSMs). In the proposed 3D HSLM, the magnetic field sources are divided into the PM array and current-driven electro-magnets, which are captured by the combination of the magnetic scalar potential and vector potential models. This paper proposes a geometry function and cylindrical harmonic index modulation functions in order to correctly capture the curvature effect by the PMs and coils with arbitrary shapes and also the radial edge effect from the finite lengths of the rotor and the stator. The proposed modeling method also enables accurate estimation of the motor characteristics on the on-load conditions using the magnetic vector potential model. The fidelity of the proposed 3D HSLM is validated against the equivalent FEM models for various cases with different PM and coil shapes, in terms of the airgap magnetic fields, motor torque, and flux linkage. The comparison results show that the proposed 3D HSLM yields a modeling accuracy of more than 98 % while significantly reducing the calculation time by two orders of magnitude as compared to the FEM models.

ABSTRACTThis study longitudinally examined university-level students’ stances, communication of negative emotions, and L2 swearing with regard to English-medium instruction (EMI). Sixteen graduate students enrolled in an English-medium course in a university in Korea participated in the study. The research instruments were classroom observations, reflective journal writing, and in-depth, semi-structured interviews. The results indicated that there were three occasions, during small group discussions, on each of which one student articulated her/his language ideologies against EMI and expressed her/his anger in Korean, and swore in English. These occasions occurred due to a student’s opposition to EMI, a student’s opposition to EMI preceded by her own support for it, and a student’s opposition to EMI faced with another student’s support for it, respectively. What affected the occasions included their teacher’s idiosyncratic focus on general vocabulary in addition to subject-specific vocabulary (a factor common to these students), and challenges intrinsic to EMI, face, and the teacher’s excessive academic push.

With aggressive scaling down in integrated circuit technology, the design of double-node-upset (DNU)-resilient latches have become a major issue regarding radiation hardening by design (RHBD). The conventional DNU-resilient latches are mostly based on the Muller C-element (MCE) and the dual-interlocked storage cell (DICE) element, which exhibit severe limitations: charge sharing during the read operation at a system level and large power consumption. Overcoming these limitations, this brief proposes a DNU-resilient latch based on a novel latch element. The proposed latch fully exploits upset polarity awareness, achieving the maximum number of single-event upset (SEU)-insensitive nodes. We develop a novel double modular redundancy architecture for the DNU-resilient latch design with one SEU-immune module. Based on simulation results, the proposed latch achieves up to 27.6X average power-delay-area-product (PDAP) improvement over state-of-the-art DNU-resilient latches.

In this paper, we modify the slotted ALOHA protocol to quickly identify a swarm of drones in unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) communication environments. Considering the unreliable UAV channel and the fundamental tradeoff between collision and idle slots in slotted ALOHA, we propose an idle-less slotted ALOHA (ILS-ALOHA) protocol that detects and utilizes idle slots to transmit control messages to drones. In ILS-ALOHA, the ground control station recognizes the idle slot promptly at the beginning of each slot and then transmits acknowledgment (ACK) and beacon messages during the remaining period of the idle slot. Therefore, it can control the access of the drone swarm more adaptively and feed back the ACK to the drones more frequently in an error-prone UAV environment without allocating additional slots. The analysis and simulation results show that the proposed ILS-ALOHA protocol outperforms the conventional slotted ALOHA-based protocols in terms of identification time, channel throughput, and probability of successful identification.

We have developed an InAlAs/InGaAs metamorphic high electron mobility transistor device fabrication process where the gate length can be tuned within the range of 0.13 μm–0.16 μm to suit the intended application. The core processes are a two‐step electron‐beam lithography process using a three‐layer resist and gate recess etching process using citric acid. An electron‐beam lithography process was developed to fabricate a T‐shaped gate electrode with a fine gate foot and a relatively large gate head. This was realized through the use of three‐layered resist and two‐step electron beam exposure and development. Citric acid‐based gate recess etching is a wet etching, so it is very important to secure etching uniformity and process reproducibility. The device layout was designed by considering the electrochemical reaction involved in recess etching, and a reproducible gate recess etching process was developed by finding optimized etching conditions. Using the developed gate electrode process technology, we were able to successfully manufacture various monolithic microwave integrated circuits, including low noise amplifiers that can be used in the 28 GHz to 94 GHz frequency range.

In this study, we exploited the properties of nature-inspired hierarchical structures to propose surfaces capable of on-demand directional droplet manipulation. A microline polydimethylsiloxane structure that simulated a bamboo leaf was fabricated, and silica particles were embedded onto its surface to create hierarchical structures. The as-fabricated multiscale line structures exhibited anisotropic wetting properties along the advancing direction. As the embedded particle size increased, the perpendicular roll-off angle (ROA) decreased and the anisotropic roll-off characteristic disappeared, adopting lotus-leaf characteristics. Consequently, the fabricated surface exhibited characteristics of both bamboo and lotus leaves. The roll off could be controlled through different ROAs by changing the particles size of silica on the same surface.

In the era of the knowledge-intensive economy, talent and knowledge are the main strategic resources to support sustainable development of organisations. Talents develop through knowledge acquisition and knowledge is continuously processed, created and updated to improve the competitiveness of the organisation. Therefore, integration of talent management (TM) and intellectual management (IM) provide the fundamental condition to increase the competitiveness of an organisation and support sustainable development. The main purpose of this paper is to suggest an integration model of TM and IM in enterprises and analyse its effectiveness. We have suggested an integrative model including nature, structure, mode, method, and target. In addition, the effectiveness of integration of the TM and IM is proved through a case study. In this part, survey data is used to analyse effectiveness of integration and provide application problems. Finally, we have statistically proved the competitive advantage of enterprises which integrate TM and IM using several methods of statistics.

Plants have developed adaptive mechanisms to withstand mechanical stress, which can hinder their growth and productivity. Anthocyanins, water-soluble pigments found in plants, have been shown to confer tolerance to abiotic stresses in various plant species, including tomato plants (Solanum lycopersicumL.). Although the biosynthesis and regulatory factors of anthocyanins have been well-characterized in tomato plants, it remains unclear whether mechanical stress influences the expression of these genes. The aim of this study was to examine the effects of rubbing-induced mechanical stress on the activation of genes involved in anthocyanin regulation and subsequent anthocyanin accumulation in tomato plants. Our results showed that rubbing treatment triggered morphological changes such as reduced plant height and altered stem and leaf color because of anthocyanin accumulation in different tomato varieties. Transcriptional analysis revealed significant upregulation of anthocyanin regulatory and biosynthetic genes in the rubbed stems when compared with the control stems. Furthermore, a negative regulator of anthocyanin, SlMYBL2, was down-regulated in the rubbed stems. However, no significant differences in the expression of anthocyanin-related genes were observed in leaves obtained from the rubbed stems, without directly rubbing the leaves themselves, when compared with the control leaves. These findings indicate that rubbing treatment specifically and immediately activated the expression of anthocyanin-related genes in the areas subjected to mechanical stress. Moreover, we suggest that specific regulatory factors influence anthocyanin accumulation throughout the plant, even in areas not directly exposed to mechanical stress.

•We identified risk factors associated with EM and LM in CRAB bacteraemia.•CRAB bacteraemia with high severity will progress to a rapidly fatal course.•The only independent risk factor for EM was the severity of illness.•LM was associated with both severity of illness and specific sites of infection.

•Bacteremia due to 5 kinds of MDRO occurred in 7979 patients and caused 3280 deaths.•Bacteremia due to MDRO caused $294 505 002 in socioeconomic loss.•Tremendous clinical and economic burden occurred with MDRO bacteraemia.

IMPORTANCE: Atrial fibrillation (AF) can develop following thoracic irradiation. However, the critical cardiac substructure responsible for AF has not been properly studied. OBJECTIVE: To describe the incidence of AF in patients with lung cancer and determine predictive cardiac dosimetric parameters. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This retrospective cohort study was performed at a single referral center and included 239 patients diagnosed with limited-stage small cell lung cancer (SCLC) and 321 patients diagnosed with locally advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) between August 2008 and December 2019 who were treated with definitive chemoradiotherapy. EXPOSURES: Radiation dose exposure to cardiac substructures, including the chambers, coronary arteries, and cardiac conduction nodes, were calculated for each patient. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Main outcomes were AF and overall survival. RESULTS: Of the 239 and 321 patients with SCLC and NSCLC, the median (IQR) age was 68 (60-73) years and 67 (61-75) years, and 207 (86.6%) and 261 (81.3%) were men, respectively. At a median (IQR) follow-up time of 32.7 (22.1-56.6) months, 9 and 17 patients experienced new-onset AF in the SCLC and NSCLC cohorts, respectively. The maximum dose delivered to the sinoatrial node (SAN Dmax) exhibited the highest predictive value for prediction of AF. A higher SAN Dmax significantly predicted an increased risk of AF in patients with SCLC (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR], 14.91; 95% CI, 4.00-55.56; P < .001) and NSCLC (aHR, 15.67; 95% CI, 2.08-118.20; P = .008). However, SAN Dmax was not associated with non-AF cardiac events. Increased SAN Dmax was significantly associated with poor overall survival in patients with SCLC (aHR, 2.68; 95% CI, 1.53-4.71; P < .001) and NSCLC (aHR, 1.97; 95% CI, 1.45-2.68; P < .001). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: In this cohort study, results suggest that incidental irradiation of the SAN during chemoradiotherapy may be associated with the development of AF and increased mortality. This supports the need to minimize radiation dose exposure to the SAN during radiotherapy planning and to consider close follow-up for the early detection of AF in patients receiving thoracic irradiation.

Herein, a soft and flexible polymer composite sensor with a surface structure is manufactured that is sensitive to a wide range of mechanical stimuli, including small actions and large motions. A polymer sensor performing with a piezoresistive mechanism is proposed by synthesizing a new conductive polymer composite to fabricate a microline structure by itself, named Ag-reduced poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate (PEGDA) composite directional bending sensor (ACBS). A simple but effective process of forming nanoparticles (NPs) and surface structures is a notable characteristic. High sensitivity to a small stimulus was achieved by forming Ag NPs within PEGDA, particularly concentrating on the surface and applying the microline structure. With the structural characteristics of a line structure, the ACBS achieved anisotropic sensitivity to bulk motion along the arranged line direction. The excellent sensitivity of this polymer sensor was experimentally demonstrated via water droplets, blowing, and breathing. Combining the advantages of a simple synthetic and simple fabrication process along with the fabrication ability of the microsurface structure with the material itself and the conductive Ag/PEGDA integrated layer, this ACBS is outstanding as a soft and flexible polymer composite sensor and has potential application in physical devices such as wearable devices and biosensors.

[Display omitted] • Successful synthesis of multi-functional adsorbents through tetrapod needle injector. • Tri-functional core fabricated in spherical shape with three clear distinct hemispheres. • Magnetic nanoparticles-encapsulated shell formed through chemical co-precipitation. • Simultaneous Cs+, Sr2+, and Rh B adsorption capacity with very fast kinetics. • Separation of multi-functional adsorbents under magnetic field after simultaneous adsorption. In this study, we design and synthesize multi-functional adsorbents using a customized needle injector and determine the simultaneous adsorption performance toward hazardous materials, including radioactive cesium (Cs+), strontium (Sr2+), and chemical dye rhodamine B (Rh B). A tri-functional core is synthesized using a tetrapod needle injector, which is equipped with an aligner and a supporter to align the syringe needles, to rapidly realize a one-step encapsulation of functional reagents including Prussian blue, hydroxyapatite, and MXene. Subsequently, a magnetic shell is generated via a chemical co-precipitation process. Results show that the simultaneous adsorption behaviors of the adsorbents toward the three hazardous materials are consistent with the Langmuir model, where maximum adsorption capacities of 42.744, 27.669, and 18.440 mg g−1 are recorded for Cs+, Sr2+, and Rh B, respectively. In addition, the adsorbents are separated from the aqueous solution within 5 s by the introduction of external magnetic fields, which can be applied to magnetic actuation. We believe that the generated multi-functional adsorbents can facilitate the development of multi-functional materials and provide significant guidelines for water remediation, particularly on radioactive isotopes and chemical dyes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]