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Background Frozen embryo transfer (FET) has become a widely employed assisted reproductive technology technique. There have historically been concerns regarding the long-term metabolic safety of FET technology in offspring due to pregnancy-induced hypertension and large for gestational age, both of which are well-recognized factors for metabolic dysfunction of children. Therefore, we aimed to compare the metabolic profiles of children born after frozen versus fresh embryo transfer at 2 to 5 years of age. Methods and findings This was a prospective cohort study. Using data from the 'Assisted Reproductive Technology borned KIDs (ARTKID),' a birth cohort of offspring born from assisted reproductive technology at the Institute of Women, Children and Reproductive Health, Shandong University, China. We included 4,246 singletons born after FET (n = 2,181) and fresh embryo transfer (n = 2,065) enrolled between 2008 and 2019 and assessed the glucose and lipid variables until the age of 2 to 5 years. During a mean follow-up of 3.6 years, no significant differences were observed in fasting blood glucose, fasting insulin, Homeostatic Model Assessment of Insulin Resistance Index, total cholesterol, triglycerides, low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol, and high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol levels between offspring conceived by fresh and frozen embryo transfer in the crude model and adjusted model (adjusted for parental age, parental body mass index, parental education level, paternal smoking, parity, offspring age and sex). These results remained consistent across subgroup analyses considering offspring age, the stage of embryo transfer, and the mode of fertilization. Results from sensitivity analysis on children matched for age within the cohort remains the same. The main limitation of our study is the young age of the offspring. Conclusions In this study, the impact of FET on glucose and lipid profiles during early childhood was comparable to fresh embryo transfer. Long-term studies are needed to evaluate the metabolic health of offspring born after FET., Author(s): Wei Zhou 1,2,3,4,5,6,7, Wanbing Feng 1,2,3,4,5,6,7, Jinli Chang 1,2,3,4,5,6,7, Jingmei Hu 1,2,3,4,5,6,7, Fuxia Li 1,2,3,4,5,6,7, Kuona Hu 1,2,3,4,5,6,7, Jiejing Jiao 1,2,3,4,5,6,7, Xinyi Xue 1,2,3,4,5,6,7, Ting Lan 1,2,3,4,5,6,7, Wenjing Wan [...]

Diamond is emerging as an attractive third‐generation wide‐bandgap semiconductor for future on‐chip nonlinear photonics and quantum optics due to its unique thermal, optical, and mechanical properties. However, the light‐driven current under below‐band gap excitation from the second‐order nonlinear optical effect in diamond is still challenging. Herein, a giant second‐order nonlinear photocurrent is observed in the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) diamond by utilizing terahertz (THz) emission spectroscopy. This ultrafast photocurrent originates from the photon drag effect (PDE), during which the momentum transfer from the incident photons to the charge carriers at the rich grain boundaries of the CVD diamond after the exclusive subgap π–π* transition upon femtosecond laser excitation. Especially, the interplay between circular and linear PDE to the THz generation is clarified and distinguished under elliptically polarized light excitation. Furthermore, the picosecond ultrafast dynamics of these charge carriers are also verified by infrared spectroscopy. Owing to the giant photon‐drag‐induced ultrafast photocurrent, the CVD diamond presents the highest THz emission efficiency compared with the reported carbon allotropes, which expands the new functionality of diamond nonlinear photonics into on‐chip THz devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Benefiting from the attractive high carrier mobility, large absorption coefficient, and ambient stability, group IV–VI compounds show excellent potential applications for optoelectronic devices. Herein, a germanium telluride (GeTe) film with a nanosphere structure has been controllably grown by facile physical vapor deposition and utilized into a photoelectrochemical (PEC)-type photodetector. The GeTe-based PEC-type photodetector possesses an excellent photoresponse and high responsivity in the visible region. Meanwhile, density functional theory calculations were employed to investigate the electronic characteristics of GeTe, supplying evidence of the broadband absorption. The improvement of photoelectric response can be attributed to the thicker films due to the larger light harvesting and higher carrier concentration, which is also verified by the visible–near-infrared absorption spectra and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. The photocurrent density (Iph) and photoresponsivity (Rph) values of the GeTe-based photodetector can reach 22.8 μA/cm2 and 228.9 μA/W. Generally, our work provides an effective way to extend semiconductor materials in applications of PEC-type photodetectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Container cranes have been widely used for port operation. However, the structure of the port container crane is large, which always leads to crane damage under vibration and strong wind. Therefore, a method for vibration reduction of container crane structure based on particle damping technology is proposed. In this investigation, the scale 1:80 crane model is built, and the equivalent mechanical model is also established to preliminarily verify the effect of vibration suppression. Furthermore, the dependence of vibration suppression effect on the key parameters of the damper, i.e., filling material, filling rate, particle size, and installation position of dampers are analyzed through experiments. The results indicate that the vibration peak of the crane structure displayed in the Simulink oscilloscope is weakened and lags behind, the installation of the damper brings the effect of vibration suppression for the crane, and the vibration suppression effect reaches 25%; the crane mode obtains the best vibration suppression effect under the condition that the material filled in the damper has a large density and elastic modulus, sufficient collision space and high collision frequency, and the dampers are installed far away from the crane center of gravity. The optimum parameters of the damper obtained from experiments were 12 mm lead beads, a filling rate of 60%, installed in the distal ends within the strength range of the forearm of the crane. It is thus concluded that particle damping technology has provided an effective way of wind and vibration reduction for container cranes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have investigated the thermal conductivity and vibration properties of TiS3 nanoribbon via micro-Raman spectroscopy. Based on the Raman spectra, the calculated temperature coefficients of the four A g 1 modes of the TiS3 nanoribbon sample are −0.0140, −0.0136, −0.0179, and −0.0172 cm−1 K−1, respectively, which are higher than that of traditional nanomaterials graphene and MoS2. The Raman frequency shift of TiS3 provides a powerful non-contact method to determine its local temperature rise, which is caused by the anharmonic coupling of phonons. From temperature coefficient and power coefficient values, the in-plane thermal conductivity of the TiS3 supported by SiO2/Si substrate has been calculated to be 187.2 ± 28.9 W/mK with weak anisotropy due to the substrate and size effects. This work paves a way to understand the heat conduction characteristics of transition metal trisulfide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Driven by the digitization and informatization of contemporary society, electrical sensors are developing toward minimal structure, intelligent function, and high detection resolution. Single‐molecule electrical measurement techniques have been proven to be capable of label‐free molecular recognition and detection, which opens a new strategy for the design of efficient single‐molecule detection sensors. In this review, we outline the main advances and potentials of single‐molecule electronics for qualitative identification and recognition assays at the single‐molecule level. Strategies for single‐molecule electro‐sensing and its main applications are reviewed, mainly in the detection of ions, small molecules, oligomers, genetic materials, and proteins. This review summarizes the remaining challenges in the current development of single‐molecule electrical sensing and presents some potential perspectives for this field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the continuous development of the space industry, the demand for low-gravity simulation experiments on the ground for spacecraft is increasing, to overcome the gravity compensation of spacecraft on the ground tests. This paper presents a new low-gravity simulation system based on the suspension method. We used a traditional PID control method with Radial Basis Function (RBF) neural network to solve its constant-tension control problem. The ant colony algorithm was used to find the initial parameters of the neural network in the solution space. A self-adjusting control strategy of PID controller parameters was realized. The results show that the tension control error of the low-gravity simulation system is as small as 0.2%, which fully meets the requirements of the system's technical indicators. This work provides auspicious theoretical and technical support for developing a low-gravity simulation system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Large‐scale multi‐heterostructure and optimal band alignment are significantly challenging but vital for photoelectrochemical (PEC)‐type photodetector and water splitting. Herein, the centimeter‐scale bismuth chalcogenides‐based cascade heterostructure is successfully synthesized by a sequential vapor phase deposition method. The multi‐staggered band alignment of Bi2Te3/Bi2Se3/Bi2S3 is optimized and verified by X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The PEC photodetectors based on these cascade heterostructures demonstrate the highest photoresponsivity (103 mA W−1 at −0.1 V and 3.5 mAW−1 at 0 V under 475 nm light excitation) among the previous reports based on two‐dimensional materials and related heterostructures. Furthermore, the photodetectors display a fast response (≈8 ms), a high detectivity (8.96 × 109 Jones), a high external quantum efficiency (26.17%), and a high incident photon‐to‐current efficiency (27.04%) at 475 nm. Due to the rapid charge transport and efficient light absorption, the Bi2Te3/Bi2Se3/Bi2S3 cascade heterostructure demonstrates a highly efficient hydrogen production rate (≈0.416 mmol cm−2 h−1 and ≈14.320 µmol cm−2 h−1 with or without sacrificial agent, respectively), which is far superior to those of pure bismuth chalcogenides and its type‐II heterostructures. The large‐scale cascade heterostructure offers an innovative method to improve the performance of optoelectronic devices in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Driven by the digitization and informatization of contemporary society, electrical sensors are developing toward minimal structure, intelligent function, and high detection resolution. Single-molecule electrical measurement techniques have been proven to be capable of label-free molecular recognition and detection, which opens a new strategy for the design of efficient single-molecule detection sensors. In this review, we outline the main advances and potentials of single-molecule electronics for qualitative identification and recognition assays at the single-molecule level. Strategies for single-molecule electro-sensing and its main applications are reviewed, mainly in the detection of ions, small molecules, oligomers, genetic materials, and proteins. This review summarizes the remaining challenges in the current development of single-molecule electrical sensing and presents some potential perspectives for this field., (© 2023 Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

Large-scale multi-heterostructure and optimal band alignment are significantly challenging but vital for photoelectrochemical (PEC)-type photodetector and water splitting. Herein, the centimeter-scale bismuth chalcogenides-based cascade heterostructure is successfully synthesized by a sequential vapor phase deposition method. The multi-staggered band alignment of Bi 2 Te 3 /Bi 2 Se 3 /Bi 2 S 3 is optimized and verified by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The PEC photodetectors based on these cascade heterostructures demonstrate the highest photoresponsivity (103 mA W -1 at -0.1 V and 3.5 mAW -1 at 0 V under 475 nm light excitation) among the previous reports based on two-dimensional materials and related heterostructures. Furthermore, the photodetectors display a fast response (≈8 ms), a high detectivity (8.96 × 10 9 Jones), a high external quantum efficiency (26.17%), and a high incident photon-to-current efficiency (27.04%) at 475 nm. Due to the rapid charge transport and efficient light absorption, the Bi 2 Te 3 /Bi 2 Se 3 /Bi 2 S 3 cascade heterostructure demonstrates a highly efficient hydrogen production rate (≈0.416 mmol cm -2  h -1 and ≈14.320 µmol cm -2  h -1 with or without sacrificial agent, respectively), which is far superior to those of pure bismuth chalcogenides and its type-II heterostructures. The large-scale cascade heterostructure offers an innovative method to improve the performance of optoelectronic devices in the future., (© 2022 The Authors. Advanced Science published by Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

Van der Waals heterostructures have great potential for the emerging self-powered photoelectrochemical photodetectors due to their outstanding photoelectric conversion capability and efficient interfacial carrier transportation. By considering the band alignment, structural design, and growth optimization, the heterostructures of vertically oriented SnS 2 with different densities on MoS 2 nanosheets are designed and fabricated using a two-step epitaxial growth method. Compared with SnS 2 , MoS 2 , and low density-vertical SnS 2 /MoS 2 heterostructure, the high density-vertical SnS 2 /MoS 2 heterostructure exhibits largely enhanced self-powered photodetection performances, such as a giant photocurrent density (∼932.8 μA cm -2 ), an excellent photoresponsivity (4.66 mA W -1 ), and an ultrafast response/recovery time (3.6/6.4 ms) in the ultraviolet-visible range. This impressive enhancement of high density-vertical SnS 2 /MoS 2 photodetectors is mainly ascribed to the essentially improved charge transfer and carrier transport of type-II band alignment heterostructures and the efficient light absorption from the unique light-trapping structure. In addition, the photoelectrocatalytic water splitting performance of the high density-vertical SnS 2 /MoS 2 heterostructure also benefits from the type-II band alignment and the light-trapping structure. This work provides valuable inspiration for the design of two-dimensional optoelectronic and photoelectrochemical devices with improved performance by the morphology and heterostructure design.

3 wt% Ag 2 S/Zn 5 In 2 S 8 (3A/Z5) and 3 wt% Ag 2 S/ZnIn 2 S 4 (3A/Z1) were prepared by a two-step synthesis method. The first-principles calculations revealed that the anisotropic carrier transport property of Zn 5 In 2 S 8 (Z5) is much stronger than that of ZnIn 2 S 4 (Z1). Furthermore, unsynchronized electron and hole transport leads to higher bulk carrier separation efficiency in Z5. After accelerating the surface photocatalytic reaction rate by Ag 2 S modification, the differences between 3A/Z5 and 3A/Z1 in the bulk carrier separation were further enlarged. Photoelectrochemical tests confirmed that the bulk charge separation efficiency of 3A/Z5 is 13.70%, which is 7.4 times higher than 3A/Z1 (1.84%). Because of the high bulk carrier separation efficiency, the 3A/Z5 exhibits a promising photocatalytic hydrogen production rate, reaching 3189 μmol h -1 g -1 . Through intuitive evidence, this work proves that material with stronger anisotropic conductivity has higher bulk carrier separation efficiency, thus has the potential to exhibit high photocatalytic hydrogen production performance., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts to declare., (This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry.)