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Children aged 3–8 are in a critical period for motor development and postural control. Running is a basic motor skill that children need to master in early childhood. While running, children are prone to dangerous events such as falls. This study investigates the kinematic characteristics of running by children associated with different interference tasks, i.e., normalized running, cognitive dual-tasks, and obstacle crossing tasks, and provides a theoretical foundation for the interference mechanism of children's dynamic postural control and for screening of motor disorders. Two hundred children aged 3–8 were recruited. The BTS Bioengineering infrared motion capture system was used to collect spatiotemporal and kinematic running data under three tasks. Repeated measures of variance analysis were used to compare the effects of different interference tasks and ages on children's running signs. The main and interaction effect tests were compared by the Bonferroni method. The results and conclusions are as follows: (1) Running characteristics of early childhood are influenced by interference tasks and age. With interference tasks, the overall characteristics of running by children aged 3–8 showed an increasing trend in running cycle time and a decreasing trend in stride length, step length, cadence, and speed. (2) Both cognitive and obstacle crossing tasks had costs, and cognitive task costs were greater than obstacle crossing costs. Children adopted a "task first" running strategy with different interference tasks. When facing cognitive tasks, their overall joint motion decreased, and they reduced joint motions to promote task completion. When facing obstacle crossing tasks, because of the characteristics of the task itself, children increased joint motions to cope with interference. (3) In terms of age, the running characteristics showed a nonlinear development trend in various indicators, with a degree of recurrence and high variability in adjacent age groups. (4) The dual-task interference paradigm of "postural-cognition" can be used as a motor intervention tool to promote the development of basic motor skills in early childhood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

(NH4)2RuCl6 is an important precursor in the synthesis of Ru powder with high-purity requirement. In this study, high-purity (>99.999 wt%) micro-sized (NH4)2RuCl6 pieces were synthesized by distillation and precipitation from crude Ru powder. Then, the thermal decomposition behavior of the (NH4)2RuCl6 pieces was investigated. The decomposition process included two stages. First, (NH4)2RuCl6 was decomposed from 255.0°C to 314.0°C, with the endothermic peak located at 309.4°C. At this stage, HCl and NH3 were released, while the dense micro-pieces were transformed to loosened micro-pieces due to the thermal decomposition. Then, the solid phase [(NH3)4Ru3Cl12] kept decomposing from 314.0°C to 352.7°C, HCl and N2 were released, and agglomerated Ru particles were achieved. Thermogravimetric analysis-differential thermal analysis-mass spectrum coupling (TG-DTA-MS) was used to monitor the thermal decomposition process and identify the released gaseous phases, respectively. The solid phases in different stages were characterized by high-temperature X-ray diffraction (HTXRD). A good understanding of the processing and thermal decomposition of (NH4)2RuCl6 is crucial in the creation of Ru products.

The search for suitable synthesis methods and parameters capable of controlling the length, diameter, and yield of silver nanowires (AgNWs) is still an emerging strategy today. Therefore, a method for high-yield synthesis of long AgNWs via chromic chloride and a stable reaction environment was proposed. The results show that Cr3+ could restore the adsorbed atomic oxygen quickly and provide a high efficiency in the prevention of the oxidative etching, for the ion of Cr2+ oxidized to Cr3+ has a lower standard electrode potential, and a more stable reaction environment provided by the coupling method could avoid disturbing the growth of the {111} reactive sites of the wires; then, the yield and length of the AgNWs were improved. The length of the AgNWs was over 75 μm and even 160 μm; the yield of the AgNWs was over 90%, which provides the referable basis for the synthesis of ultralong AgNWs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High-purity ultrafine platinum particles are widely used to fabricate platinum electrode oxygen sensors for automobiles and thick-film platinum resistance temperature elements. In this study, the near-spherical ultrafine Pt particles of high purity were synthesized by chemical purification, spray-drying, and ignition from crude Pt powder. Impurities in the initial Pt powder were eliminated by the 001×7 strong acid cation resin exchange column and precipitation treatment. Near-spherical (NH4)2PtCl6 particles were obtained after spray-drying, and then the microstructure and size of as-synthesized Pt particles were controlled by the ignition process. The influences of different heating temperatures during ignition treatment on the microstructure and size of Pt particles were investigated. The purity of as-synthesized Pt particles was higher than 99.999 wt%, and the average size was about 1.12 μm. The results indicate that high-purity ultrafine Pt particles can be efficiently synthesized by chemical refining. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

(NH4)2RuCl6 is an important precursor in the synthesis of Ru powder with high-purity requirement. In this study, high-purity (>99.999 wt%) micro-sized (NH4)2RuCl6 pieces were synthesized by distillation and precipitation from crude Ru powder. Then, the thermal decomposition behavior of the (NH4)2RuCl6 pieces was investigated. The decomposition process included two stages. First, (NH4)2RuCl6 was decomposed from 255.0°C to 314.0°C, with the endothermic peak located at 309.4°C. At this stage, HCl and NH3 were released, while the dense micro-pieces were transformed to loosened micro-pieces due to the thermal decomposition. Then, the solid phase [(NH3)4Ru3Cl12] kept decomposing from 314.0°C to 352.7°C, HCl and N2 were released, and agglomerated Ru particles were achieved. Thermogravimetric analysis-differential thermal analysis-mass spectrum coupling (TG-DTA-MS) was used to monitor the thermal decomposition process and identify the released gaseous phases, respectively. The solid phases in different stages were characterized by high-temperature X-ray diffraction (HTXRD). A good understanding of the processing and thermal decomposition of (NH4)2RuCl6 is crucial in the creation of Ru products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

(NH 4 ) 2 RuCl 6 is one of the most important precursors for the preparation of Ru powder with high-purity requirement. In this study, high-purity (> 99.999 wt%) micro-spherical (from 2.3 to 10.4 μm) (NH 4 ) 2 RuCl 6 particles with controllable surface were synthesized by chemical separation method combined with spray drying process. After the chemical separation, high-purity (NH 4 ) 2 RuCl 6 precipitation was achieved, while the morphology, size and surface of (NH 4 ) 2 RuCl 6 particles were controlled by the spray drying process. The detailed influencing mechanisms of spray drying process, including gas/liquid rate, drying temperature and solution concentration, were investigated. Both gas/liquid rate and drying temperature influence the morphology and size of spray dried particles, while solution concentration is directly proportional to size of spray dried particles. It should be noted that the powder technology in this study could be applied to synthesize other high-purity spherical particles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vertical jumping is one of the basic motor skills, and it is an essential part of many sports. The main purpose of this paper is to investigate characteristics of vertical jumping of children. This paper uses a motion capture system, three-dimensional platforms, and a simulation modeling system to analyze the kinematics and dynamics performance of children's vertical jumping. The compression time increases from 3 to 4 years old, and flight height and time increases with age and stage gradually. In the compression phase and pushing phase, the hip and knee joint play a major role; in the landing phase, the knee and ankle joint play a major role. Muscle forces are mainly affected by age, and the three types of muscle force had two different trends. The muscle force of the shank and thigh increased with age, and the pelvic girdle muscles showed an "low–high–low" trend. The regression model suggests that the force of GMiP and the hip angular velocity have a great influence on jumping ability. Therefore, if we want to improve the jumping ability of preschool children, we should pay more attention to hip exercises. We should integrate the hip exercises into interesting games, which are more in line with their physical and mental health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The presence of methyl orange (MO) and ciprofloxacin (CIP) in wastewater poses a serious threat to the environment and human health. Titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TiO 2 NPs) are widely studied as photocatalysts for wastewater treatment. However, TiO 2 NPs have the drawbacks of high energy required for activation, fast electron-hole pair recombination and difficulty in recovering from water. To overcome these problems, europium decorated titanium dioxide/poly(vinylidene fluoride) (Eu-TiO 2 /PVDF) membranes were successful prepared in this work by combining the modified sol-gel method and the immersion phase inversion method. The Eu-TiO 2 /PVDF membranes obtained with the increase of Eu-TiO 2 NPs content during the preparation process were named M1, M2 and M3, respectively. The pure PVDF membrane without the addition of Eu-TiO 2 NPs was named M0, which was prepared by the immersion phase inversion method and served as a reference. The prepared Eu-TiO 2 /PVDF membranes could not only adsorb MO, but also degrade CIP under visible-light irradiation. Moreover, the Eu-TiO 2 /PVDF membranes exhibited adsorption-photocatalytic activity towards a mixture of MO and CIP under visible-light irradiation. Last but not the least, the Eu-TiO 2 /PVDF membranes exhibited excellent recyclability and reusability, opening the avenue for a possible use of these membranes in sewage-treatment plants., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest., (This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry.)