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Objective: Poor fetal and perinatal outcomes in fetuses associated with umbilical artery thrombosis (UAT), such as severe intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) and intrauterine asphyxia have been reported by some case series. Its hemodynamic impact remains unclear. The aim of this study was to evaluate the hemodynamic changes and perinatal outcome in UAT fetuses with a relatively large sample. Methods: We included singleton fetuses diagnosed with UAT and with at least one available Doppler evaluation before the end of pregnancy in our center from 2016 to 2023. Fetuses with structural abnormalities and with no follow-up results were excluded. Doppler waveforms from the Umbilical artery (UA), middle cerebral artery (MCA), ductus venosus (DV) and uterine artery (UtA) were routinely evaluated according to ISUOG Practice Guidelines from diagnosis. The same sample of GA-matched normal fetuses with Doppler measurements during the same period were randomly selected as control group. Results: Eighty-nine singleton fetuses with UAT with at least one Doppler evaluation before the end of pregnancy were identified, 13 fetuses with no follow-up results were excluded. After comprehensive prenatal counseling, 14 cases received urgent cesarean section, the remaining 55 cases received expectant management, the median day between GA at diagnosis and end of pregnancy was 13 (5–53) days (range, 2-159). 7 (7/76, 9.2%) cases occurred stillbirth, and the incidence of IUGR and Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) admission were 18.4% (14/76) and 13.2% (10/76) respectively. 49 fetuses (49/76, 64.5%) combined with Doppler abnormalities. UA abnormalities (35/76, 46.1%) and MCA abnormalities (34/76, 44.7%) were the most changes at presentation. Compared to control group, UA-EDV was significantly increased in UAT fetuses [21.84 (15.59–26.64) vs. 16.40 (12.43–20.70) cm/s, p < 0.001], UA-PI and UA-RI significantly decreased [0.68 (0.57–0.84) vs. 0.92 (0.79–1.11), p<0.001; 0.51 (0.44–0.59) vs. 0.62 (0.55–0.68), p < 0.001, respectively]. Both the MCA-PSV and MCA-EDV were significantly higher in UAT fetuses [54.60 (48.00-61.34) vs. 44.47 (29.66–57.60) cm/s, p < 0.001; 11.19 (7.84–17.60) vs. 8.22 (5.21-12.00) cm/s, p < 0.001, respectively], this led to a lower MCA-PI and MCA-RI. Meanwhile, DV-PIV was significantly higher in UAT fetuses [0.6 (0.47–0.87) vs. 0.45 (0.37–0.55), p < 0.001], CPR and UtA-PI were no significant difference between these two groups. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that DV-PIV was an independent risk factor for adverse pregnancy outcomes (OR 161.922, p<0.001), the area under the ROC curve (AUC) was 0.792 (95% CI 0.668–0.917; p < 0.001). Conclusion: Our data showed serious adverse pregnancy consequences are combined with UAT fetuses. Hemodynamic changes in UAT fetuses showed the remaining artery for compensation and brain perfusion derangement. With a comprehensive and standardized Doppler evaluation, progression of fetal deterioration may be detailed presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ca-alginate beads have strong hygroscopicity, which have been used for the self-healing and internal curing of cement-based materials. However, ca-alginate beads in cement will chelate with calcium ions, which decreases the swelling rate of ca-alginate beads in the healing environment and is detrimental to the self-healing of cement-based materials. In this paper, the mechanism and steps for preparing ca-alginate beads with a lower ability to chelate with calcium ions were proposed based on protonation theory. In addition, the molecular structure and the swelling rates in cement filtrate and healing environment of ca-alginate beads prepared by the proposed method were characterized. The results showed that the ca-alginate beads prepared by the proposed method had higher molecular density and a lower ability to chelate with calcium ions. The swelling rate in the healing environment is not decreased. Furthermore, the equilibrium swelling rate in cement filtrate can satisfy the need for internal curing of cement-based materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under the configuration of the new generation communication network, the algorithm based on machine learning has been widely used in network optimization and mobile user behavior prediction. Therefore, the optimization method with hyper-parameters will have a huge development space in the field of mobile communication network. However, for non-professionals, the bottleneck that restricts the further development and application of the whole machine learning is the selection of suitable machine learning algorithm and the determination of suitable algorithm hyper-parameters. Researchers have proposed to use automatic machine learning algorithm to solve this remarkable problem. This article forms a technical manual that can be easily searched by researchers with summarizing related hyper-parameter optimization methods and proposing the corresponding algorithm framework. Moreover, through the comparison of related optimization methods, we highlight the characteristics and deficiencies of related algorithms in the new generation of mobile networks, and put forward suggestions for future improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the continuous improvement and economic development of China's coal mining industry, research on the characteristics of wastewater discharge has gained attraction in recent years. Ballasted flocculation technology, has been widely used in recent years. However, its effect on the settling velocity of the flocs in wastewater has not been quantified. This study aimed to screen optimal reaction condition for ballasted flocculation and to derive the settling velocity of the ballasted flocs under these conditions. The results showed that, the size of the ballasted material had no significant effect on the turbidity and suspended solids removal rate; however, the settling time was effectively shortened, and the turbidity removal rate could reach more than 95% within 15 s. Owing to the optimization of the reaction conditions, 90% of the flocs sizes were distributed in the 80–200 µm range. Moreover, the difference between the theoretical and the measured value of the ballasted flocculation was small, indicating that the derived formula could effectively quantify the settling velocity of the ballasted flocs under optimal conditions. These findings may serve as a critical reference for the treatment of high-suspended solids in coal mining water and have significant potential for engineering application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates phase separation behavior and pattern formation in a binary fluid with chemical reaction controlled by thermal diffusion. By incorporating the Arrhenius equation into the lattice Boltzmann method (LBM), the coupling effects of the pre-exponential factor K, viscosity η , and thermal diffusion D on phase separation were successfully evaluated. The effect of the competition between thermal diffusion and concentration on the phase separation morphology and dynamics of binary mixtures under a chemically reacting controlled by slow cooling is assessed based on the extended LBM. The calculations indicated that increases in viscosity and thermal diffusion can obtain interconnected structures (ISs) and lamellar structures (LSs) for cases with small K. However, concentric phase-separated structures (CSs) were observed in cases with large K. The increase in the degree and efficiency of phase separation were significantly greater in cases with decreased viscosity and increased thermal diffusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] The suspended solids in the acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene(ABS) wastewater are in the form of viscous latex, which strengthens the blocking phenomenon of the release device, increases the suspended solids in the return water and reduces the removal effect of the air flotation apparatus. Therefore, we designed a new release device. To achieve the goal of controlling the bubbles in the target diameter and enlarge the hole size as much as possible to reduce blockage, we studied the relationship between the geometry structure and performance of the new, which could be describeed by fixed polynomials. The best demulsification effect could be obtained by the hybrid of the polyferric sulfate and FO4440SSH, and the highest removal rate was 92.51 %. After a long-running in the ABS sewage treatment plant of the petrochemical industry, the removal rate of the new could maintain at a high level(>90 %), and the removal effect was stable. Compared with other release devices that reported in the literatures, the new one had advantages significant in both removal efficiency and operation cost. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Our objective was to establish a random forest model and to evaluate its predictive capability of the treatment effect of neoadjuvant chemotherapy–radiation therapy. Methods: This retrospective study included 82 patients with locally advanced cervical cancer who underwent scanning from March 2013 to May 2018. The random forest model was established and optimised based on the open source toolkit scikit-learn. Byoptimising of the number of decision trees in the random forest, the criteria for selecting the final partition index and the minimum number of samples partitioned by each node, the performance of random forest in the prediction of the treatment effect of neoadjuvant chemotherapy–radiation therapy on advanced cervical cancer (> IIb) was evaluated. Results: The number of decision trees in the random forests influenced the model performance. When the number of decision trees was set to 10, 25, 40, 55, 70, 85 and 100, the performance of random forest model exhibited an increasing trend first and then a decreasing one. The criteria for the selection of final partition index showed significant effects on the generation of decision trees. The Gini index demonstrated a better effect compared with information gain index. The area under the receiver operating curve for Gini index attained a value of 0.917. Conclusion: The random forest model showed potential in predicting the treatment effect of neoadjuvant chemotherapy–radiation therapy based on high-resolution T2WIs for advanced cervical cancer (> IIb). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, laboratory-scale magnetic flocculation systems were set up and the optimal coagulant and flocculent dosage, magnetic seed immersion, pH, stirring intensity, and precipitation time were all evaluated. A total of 729 expansion reaction conditions were generated, and 700 of the expansion reaction conditions were used to train a back-propagation neural network (BPNN) and general regression neural network (GRNN). The other 29 conditions were used to verify the networks' regression ability. The optimum coagulant was poly-aluminum chloride at a dosage of 100 mg/L; the optimum flocculent was anionic polyacrylamide at a dosage of 4 mg/L; the optimum size of the magnetic seed was 200 mesh at a dosage of 1 g/L; and the optimum stirring intensities were 300 r/min for the coagulation tank, 200 r/min for the mixing tank, and 100 r/min for the flocculation tank. Comparing BPNN and GRNN, the GRNN's regression performance better matched the relationship between the reaction conditions and results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aluminum borate whiskers reinforced Al-12Si composites with Al-12Si alloys were fabricated by squeeze casting. The mechanical properties and fracture behaviors of the bond zone between the composites and Al-12Si alloys were experimentally investigated in the test temperature range from 25 to 350 °C. The tensile results indicated that the bonding state of the bond zone was poor at relative low test temperatures while was improved as temperature rising up to 350 °C. Nano-indentation experiment was conducted at elevated temperature to evaluate the nano-hardness and Young's modulus of the materials. The calculation method of Young's modulus was discussed and the computation results support the relevant conclusions of tensile analysis. The temperatures were found to greatly influence the bond quality between the composites and Al-12Si alloys, which would cause a change of fracture position from the bond zone to the unreinforced Al-12Si alloys with elevated temperatures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, multiplex networks are becoming a research focus in the domain of complex networks. Discovering significant correlations between layers in multiplex networks can provide an insight to their structures. In this study, we propose some methods to measure the dissimilarities of different layers in directed and weighted multiplex networks. The dissimilarity is defined on two levels: node level and layer level. The node dissimilarity is computed based on the distance of the probability distribution of its link weights vectors in different layers; and the layer-level dissimilarity is the weighted sum of the nodes’ dissimilarities. Furthermore, the dissimilarity is disintegrated into the connection-based dissimilarity and the weight-based dissimilarity, which represent the topological structure changes and the link weight changes, respectively. The proposed methods are applied to international trade networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A prediction model of compressive strength considering the internal-curing width. • A method for determining the internal-curing width of water-absorbent polymers. • The internal-curing width of the water-absorbent polymers is about 13 µm. • The compressive strength is mainly related to dosage and volume swelling rate. The water-absorbent polymer will bring large holes and the internal-curing region for cement-based materials. These two effects will bring negative and positive effects on the compressive strength of the cement-based material, respectively. In this paper, a calculation model of the compressive strength of cement-based materials with water-absorbent polymers was proposed considering the influence of the large holes and internal-curing on the compressive strength. A method for determining the internal-curing width of water-absorbent polymers based on backscattering image analysis was established. Based on the internal-curing width, the compressive strength was predicted and compared with the results of experiments. In addition, the influences of the internal-curing width, size, dosage, mass swelling rate, and volume swelling rate of water-absorbent polymers on the compressive strength were analyzed. The results show that the internal-curing width of the water-absorbent polymers with a mass swelling ratio of 4.22 g/g is about 13 µm. Based on the internal-curing width obtained by characterization, the compressive strength obtained by model is 7 % greater than that obtained by experiments. Besides, the influence range of the internal-curing width, size, and mass swelling ratio of the water-absorbent polymers on the compressive strength is between 80 Mpa and 90 Mpa. The influence range of the dosage and the volume swelling rate of the water-absorbent polymers on the compressive strength is between 20 Mpa and 90 Mpa. The compressive strength is mainly related to the dosage and the volume swelling rate of water-absorbent polymers. The larger the dosage and volume swelling rate are, the smaller the compressive strength is. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, machine learning models have been employed for prediction in various domains. While the prediction performance has obviously improved, some models have become too complex to understand, and these models are called black-box models. Detecting the feature interactions is a useful technique to gain insight into the structure of black-box models. In this paper, we propose a method based on high dimensional model representation (HDMR) to reveal the structure of prediction models by detecting the feature interactions that are embedded in the models. The HDMR-based method can detect the k -way interactions without any constraints on k and can detect the interactions from both classification and regression models. Moreover, this method is model-agnostic and can detect both global and local interactions. Experiments on some synthetic and real datasets demonstrate that the HDMR-based method can detect feature interactions effectively and improve the model interpretability. • A method is proposed to detect feature interactions from prediction models. • The method can help gain insight into the structure of prediction models. • The method is based on high dimensional model representation. • The method can detect any k -way interaction. • The method can be used for both classification and regression models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: Microwave absorber with nanoscale gradient structure was proposed for enhancing the electromagnetic absorption performance. Outstanding reflection loss value (−62.7 dB), broadband wave absorption (6.4 dB with only 2.1 mm thickness) in combination with flexible adjustment abilities were acquired, which is superior to other relative graded distribution structures. This strategy initiates a new method for designing and controlling wave absorber with excellent impedance matching property in practical applications. In the present paper, a microwave absorber with nanoscale gradient structure was proposed for enhancing the electromagnetic absorption performance. The inorganic–organic competitive coating strategy was employed, which can effectively adjust the thermodynamic and kinetic reactions of iron ions during the solvothermal process. As a result, Fe nanoparticles can be gradually decreased from the inner side to the surface across the hollow carbon shell. The results reveal that it offers an outstanding reflection loss value in combination with broadband wave absorption and flexible adjustment ability, which is superior to other relative graded distribution structures and satisfied with the requirements of lightweight equipment. In addition, this work elucidates the intrinsic microwave regulation mechanism of the multiscale hybrid electromagnetic wave absorber. The excellent impedance matching and moderate dielectric parameters are exhibited to be the dominative factors for the promotion of microwave absorption performance of the optimized materials. This strategy to prepare gradient-distributed microwave absorbing materials initiates a new way for designing and fabricating wave absorber with excellent impedance matching property in practical applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Characterization method is developed according to stereological principle. • The hydration depth of cement particles below 10 µm is about 2 µm. • The error of the characterization results is about 1.07%. The hydration depth is the hydrated thickness of cement particle, which reflects the hydration process. The hydration depths of cement particles with different sizes are different. Understanding and controlling the hydration depth may improve the quality and economy of the cement-based material. In this paper, a method is proposed to characterize the hydration depths of cement particles with different sizes in hardened cement-based materials by combining backscattered electron images and the stereological method. The hydration depths of cement particles in hardened cement paste with a water-cement ratio of 0.35 were characterized at the age of 28 days. The results show that the cement particles below 2 µm are completely hydrated and the hydration depths of cement particles below 10 µm are about 2 µm. In the present case, the characterization method has good accuracy for cement particles below 16 µm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Ca-alginate promotes the formations of hydration and self-healing products. • Ca-alginate changes the morphology of calcium carbonate. • The promoted products and ca-alginate are bonded by chemical bonds. Ca-alginate bead is a promising material for self-healing of cement-based materials. However, the influence of ca-alginate beads on the hydration and self-healing of cement is not clear. In this paper, the influence of ca-alginate beads on the formations of hydration and self-healing products of cement was studied. The types, contents, morphologies, and molecular structures of hydration and self-healing products promoted by ca-alginate beads were characterized by applying XRD, XEDS, TG, SEM, and FTIR techniques. The results show that the formation of the hydration and self-healing products are enhanced by ca-alginate beads due to the molecular structure of ca-alginate beads. Besides, the morphologies of the products in the cement matrix and on the surface of ca-alginate beads are different, which is caused by the formation of chemical bonds between the products on the surface of ca-alginate beads and ca-alginate beads. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Space High-Cadence Observing Telescope (SHOT) is proposed as a spaceborne 0.8-meter terahertz camera with remarkable imaging speed, aimed at conducting the inaugural large-sky terahertz survey and unlocking a pioneering realm for exploring the dynamic universe. Kinetic Inductance Bolometers (KIBs) represent a viable technique for the focal plane detector arrays of SHOT. In this paper, we present the design of a lumped-element kinetic inductance detector (LEKID) as the KIB detector, featuring various interdigital capacitors (IDCs) for tuning the resonator frequency. In KIB detector, the inductive component of the LEKID is thermally isolated from the substrate by a normal metal antenna, which serves to absorb terahertz signals. We conducted characterization on non-thermally isolated LEKID at temperatures of 1.5 and 0.01 Kelvin. The KIB design and fabrication processes have been established and the devices are fabricated with a 91.5% mechanical yield. The results form a foundation to build large arrays of KIB detectors using existing manufacturing technologies for SHOT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Space High-cadence Observing Telescope (SHOT) is proposed to conduct a wide-field survey in one of the frequency bands between 1 and 3 THz with an aperture of 0.8 m. It will provide complete terahertz and far-infrared photometry with low-resolution spectroscopy throughout the sky, promoting the study of fast radio bursts, the formation and evolution of stars, and other scientific goals. The telescope will adopt a superconducting kinetic inductance detector to achieve a wide survey of terahertz imaging. This work designs the optical system of SHOT to obtain a large FOV of up to 1.5 deg and match the detector with the size of 60 mm × 60 mm and pixel pitch of 0.8 mm. The primary optical system adopts a Ritchey–Chrétien design. By adding a corrector lens to the optical system and optimization, the aberrations mainly caused by the optical elements in the detector system are reduced. The influence of each component assigned to different terahertz materials is analyzed. The results show that TPX is more suitable than the other two materials. The performance of the optimized optical system is close to its diffraction limit. It will have the characteristics of high image quality and compact layout. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Propose a feature grid-based CNN model, FGCN, on traditional data. • Propose methods of converting instance with form of 1-d vector to feature grid. • The performance of FGCN model has reached the state-of-the-art technique XGBoost. • The positions of features in the grid have little influence on prediction accuracy. • Fully connected layers in CNN give little marginal classification performance. Convolutional neural networks (ConvNets) have been applied to various types of data, including image, text, and speech, but not to traditional data. In this study, traditional data are defined as data whose features have no spatial or temporal dependencies but might have statistical correlations. We construct a feature grid-based ConvNet (FGCN) model for classification tasks on traditional data. The FGCN model is composed of two functional parts: The first is used to convert traditional data in the form of a 1-D feature vector into a 1-D, 2-D, or higher-dimensional feature grid; and the second is a ConvNet classifier for the converted data. The experimental results show that the FGCN model performs well; therefore, it is worth considering this model for classification tasks on traditional data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the high capacity of impurities in its structure, calcite is regarded as one of the most attractive minerals to trap heavy metals (HMs) and radionuclides via substitution during coprecipitation/crystal growth. As a high-reactivity mineral, calcite may release HMs via dissolution. However, the influence of the incorporated HMs and radionuclides in calcite on its dissolution is unclear. Herein, we reported the dissolution behavior of the synthesized calcite incorporated with cadmium (Cd), cobalt (Co), nickel (Ni), zinc (Zn), and uranium (U). Our findings indicated that the HMs and U in calcite could significantly change the dissolution process of calcite. The results demonstrated that the incorporated HMs and U had both inhibiting and enhancing effects on the solubility of calcite, depending on the type of metals and their content. Furthermore, secondary minerals such as smithsonite (ZnCO3), Co-poor aragonite, and U-rich calcite precipitated during dissolution. Thus, the incorporation of metals into calcite can control the behavior of HMs/uranium, calcite, and even carbon dioxide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Left ventricular non-compaction cardiomyopathy (LVNC) is a rare congenital heart defect. Gene defections have been found in patients with LVNC and their family members; and MYH7 is the most frequent gene associated with LVNC. Methods: We performed a complete prenatal ultrasound and echocardiographic examination on a fetus with cardiac abnormality and a parent–child trio whole-exome sequencing to identify the potential genetic causes. When the genetic abnormality in MYH7 was identified in the fetus, we performed echocardiography and genetic screening on its high-risk relatives. Results: Second trimester ultrasound and echocardiography showed several malformations in the fetus: Ebstein's anomaly (EA), heart dilatation, perimembranous ventricle septal defects, mild seroperitoneum, and single umbilical artery. Heterozygous genotyping of a splicing variant allele (NM_00025.3: c.732+G>A) was identified in this fetus and her mother, not her father, indicating a maternal inheritance. Subsequently, direct sequencing confirmed the presence of this splicing variant among her grandmother (mother of mother), mother, older sister, and herself in a heterozygous manner. No PCR products were amplified by qRT-PCR for the RNA samples extracted from peripheral blood cells. In addition to this proband who was diagnosed with EA, her older sister and grandmother (mother of mother) were diagnosed with isolated asymptomatic LVCN, but her mother was just a carrier with no marked clinical manifestations after family screening. Conclusion: The presence of MYH7 splicing variant c.732+G>A can be inherited maternally, and its cardiac phenotypes are different from one carrier to another. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The value of serum thyroglobulin/antithyroglobulin (Tg/antithyroglobulin antibody [ATg]) for papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) surveillance after lobectomy was investigated. We aimed to examine the association between postlobectomy serum Tg/ATg and PTC structural recurrence and define applicable values for stratification. Methods: PTC patients who underwent lobectomy with adequate serum Tg/ATg data during 2000–2014 were selected. Predictive classifiers of recurrence using random forest were established combining different variables related to serum Tg (ATg-negative patients) or ATg (ATg-positive patients). Cutoff values were determined with receiver operating characteristic curves when applicable. Kaplan–Meier curve and Cox regression were performed to examine the predictive value of elevated Tg/ATg. Results: Of 1451 patients enrolled, 66 (6.3%) and 26 (6.5%) patients in the ATg-negative group (n = 1050) and ATg-positive group (n = 401) developed recurrence. The established classifier of serum Tg (n = 1050) showed a favorable association with recurrence (AUC = 0.81), while serum ATg did not (AUC = 0.72). The optimal cutoff values of the first Tg (FTg, measured 6–12 months after lobectomy) and last Tg (LTg, measured most recently) were 5.3 and 11.0 ng/mL, respectively. Elevated LTg patients had significantly higher recurrence rates than normal LTg patients (23.5% vs. 4.4%, p < 0.05). Patients with elevated FTg had significantly lower recurrence-free survival rates than patients with normal FTg in all ATg-negative patients, low-risk patients, and intermediate- to high-risk patients (according to the American Thyroid Association initial risk stratification) (n = 1050, 583, and 467, all p < 0.05). Multivariate analysis indicated patients with elevated FTg had twice the recurrent risk compared with those with normal FTg (hazard ratio = 2.052). Conclusions: Postlobectomy serum Tg has favorable value for predicting recurrence in PTC patients, and reasonable thresholds could identify patients at higher risk for recurrence during follow-up. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Calcite is often doped with impurity ions that affect its dissolution behavior. In the present investigation, solid solutions of (Ca, Mn)CO3 and (Ca, Cu)CO3 were synthesized by coprecipitation to study their dissolution in an acidic solution (pH = 5) at 25 °C. The solution chemical analysis results showed that the concentrations of aqueous Cu2+ and Mn2+ first increased and then decreased with the extension of dissolution time. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) and transmission electron microscope (TEM) observations revealed that rhodochrosite (MnCO3) and malachite (Cu2(OH)2CO3) formed during the dissolution. This suggested that the impurities in calcite might impact the dissolution and precipitation of carbonates in the environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The predictability of a certain effect or phenomenon is often equated with the knowledge of relevant physical laws, typically understood as a functional or numerically derived relationship between the observations and known states of the system. Correspondingly, observations inconsistent with prior knowledge can be used to derive new knowledge on the nature of the system or indicate the presence of yet unknown mechanisms. Here, we explore the applicability of Gaussian processes (GP) to establish predictability and uncertainty of local behaviors from multimodal observations, providing an alternative to this classical paradigm. Using atomic resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) of multiferroic Sm-doped BiFeO3 across a broad composition range, we directly visualize the atomic structure and structural, physical, and chemical order parameter fields for the material. GP regression is used to establish the predictability of the local polarization field from different groups of parameters, including the adjacent polarization values and several combinations of physical and chemical descriptors, including lattice parameters, column intensities, etc. We observe that certain elements of microstructure, including charged and uncharged domain walls and interfaces with the substrate, are best predicted with specific combinations of descriptors, and this predictability and associated uncertainties are consistent across the composition series. The associated generative physical mechanisms are discussed. It is also found that certain parameter combinations tend to predict the orthorhombic phase in the cases where rhombohedral phase is observed, suggesting a potential role of clamping and confinement phenomena in phase equilibrium in Sm-BiFeO3 system close to morphotropic phase boundary. We argue that predictability and uncertainty in observational data offer a new pathway to probe the physics of condensed matter systems from multimodal local observations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

First principles calculations are performed to study the electronic properties and Li storage capability of honeycomb carbon. We find its right model consistent with the experimental result, the honeycomb carbon and its Li-intercalated configurations are all metallic which is beneficial to the electrode materials for lithium-ion batteries. The model 1 configuration shows fast Li diffusion and theoretical Li storage capacity of 319 mAh/g. Moreover, the average intercalation potentials for honeycomb carbon material is calculated to be low relatively. Our results suggest that the honeycomb carbon would be a new promising pure carbon anode material for Li-ion batteries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Animating equity in teaching and learning depends on teacher dispositions—orientations to self, others, and society that underlie how we think and act. Teacher dispositions are virtues or qualities of moral character that modify the ways we interact with students and educator colleagues. Although interest in "measuring to improve" teaching and teacher education has grown recently, most measures lack validity evidence for practical usefulness. Integrating Messick's "unified validity framework" with Janssen et al.'s notion of "practicality" (as face validity), we find through an iterative, mixed-methods analysis of interviews with equitable educators and survey responses from teacher candidates that incorporating recognizability, relevance, and feasibility concerns of equity disposition concepts (i.e., Social Awareness, Meekness, Advocacy for Students) within survey items enhances item-to-factor structure of a self-report measure. We discuss implications (a) to develop and appraise formative measures and (b) to support teacher learning and development to become equitable educators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Oxygen vacancy defects have been widely studied for fundamental research and industrial applications, because they significantly influence the physical properties of oxides. Precise and systematic control over oxygen deficiency is a prerequisite for qualitative and quantitative studies on the effect of oxygen defects. In this paper, we report a novel approach to accurately control the oxygen deficiency of oxide thin films using high-throughput reactive sputtering (HTRS). SiOx combinatorial libraries consisting of 110 × 130 cells (cell area of 1 cm2) were fabricated on a large-scale glass substrate (110 × 130 cm2). These libraries allow for macroscopic analysis tools that are not amenable to the existing combinatorial methods, such as optical and x-ray spectroscopies. The cells exhibit spatial gradients in optical constants and optical transmission depending on the oxygen deficiency, indicating a gradual transition from Si to SiO2. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis reveals that the libraries consisting of silicon oxides with diverse oxidation states are in good accordance with the continuous compositional variation. The HTRS method demonstrates the controllability of oxygen deficiency by 0.5% (Δδ ≈ 0.01) and provides potential controllability of 0.05% (Δδ ≈ 0.001). Our approach provides the systematic control of oxygen deficiency and makes a step toward discovering the emerging properties of non-stoichiometric oxides. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Composite carbon-based nano-zero-valent iron materials not only have excellent characteristics of nano materials, but also solve the difficulty of recycling nano materials after use, and overcome the shortcomings of the nano materials. The introduction of copper increases the redox reaction activity of the micro-electrolytic material and expands the applicable pH range of the reaction environment. In the range of pH  =  3–9, the removal efficiency of dichloromethanesulfonic acid (Cl2-MSA) was maintained at 95.5–99.7% after 30 min. Continuous dynamic simulation experiments verified that the composite carbon-based nano zero-valent iron material has a stable removal effect on the target pollutants. The nano-zero-valent iron is evenly distributed on the activated carbon, and the copper element is used as an auxiliary agent, which not only overcomes the defects of the traditional micro-electrolytic material, but also improves the degradation efficiency of the new disinfection by-product. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tunable Diode Laser Absorption Spectroscopy (TDLAS) has been widely applied in in situ and real-time monitoring of trace gas concentrations. In this paper, an advanced TDLAS-based optical gas sensing system with laser linewidth analysis and filtering/fitting algorithms is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. The linewidth of the laser pulse spectrum is innovatively considered and analyzed in the harmonic detection of the TDLAS model. The adaptive Variational Mode Decomposition-Savitzky Golay (VMD-SG) filtering algorithm is developed to process the raw data and could significantly eliminate the background noise variance by about 31% and signal jitters by about 12.5%. Furthermore, the Radial Basis Function (RBF) neural network is also incorporated and applied to improve the fitting accuracy of the gas sensor. Compared with traditional linear fitting or least squares method (LSM), the RBF neural network brings along the enhanced fitting accuracy within a large dynamic range, achieving an absolute error of below 50 ppmv (about 0.6%) for the maximum 8000 ppmv methane. The proposed technique in this paper is universal and compatible with TDLAS-based gas sensors without hardware modification, allowing direct improvement and optimization for current optical gas sensors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Single-component white phosphor is highly desirable to obtain efficient and stable white light-emitting diodes (w-LED). In this paper, a series of Bi3+, Tb3+, and Eu3+ doped Ca 3 LuAl 3 B 4 O 15 (CLAB) luminescent materials were successfully prepared. The structure, morphology, and optical properties of samples were characterized by X-ray diffractometer, scanning electronic microscopy, and fluorescence spectroscopy, respectively. The synthesized phosphor exhibits strong blue band emission from Bi3+ and intense characteristics line emission from Tb3+ and Eu3+ under ultraviolet (UV) light excitation. The emission color can fine be adjusted by changing the doping content of the three activators. The warm white light of CLAB:0.5%Bi3+,2%Tb3+,0.75%Eu3+ with CIE chromaticity coordinates of (0.3728,0.3166), a CCT of 3671 K, and a Ra index of 87 could be realized under UV light excitation. The fabricated w-LED by combining UV chip with CLAB:0.5%Bi3+,2%Tb3+,0.75%Eu3+ shows excellent thermal stability after high-temperature aging test, implying its promising application in single-phosphor-converted warm w-LEDs. A single-phosphor-converted warm w-LED fabricated by UV chip with CLAB:Bi3+,Tb3+,Eu3+ shows thermally robust properties. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To obtain multi-functional β-iPP composites, β-iPP composites are always filled by multiple fillers with α-nucleating ability. To prepare β-iPP/TiO2/MMT composites, TiO2-supported MMT with a β-nucleating surface was prepared through hydrolysis reaction of Tetra-n-butyl titanate and chemical reaction between pimelic acid and calcium ion. X-ray diffraction and scanning electron micrograph confirmed the formation of TiO2 on the surface of MMT. The differential scanning calorimeter and X-ray diffraction illustrated that the β-iPP composites filled by TiO2 and MMT had lower relative β-phase contents than β-iPP. It is observed by polarized optical microscope that addition of TiO2-supported MMT with a β-nucleating surface into iPP can increase the spherulite nuclei density and decrease the spherulite size significantly and obtain the β-iPP/TiO2/MMT composites with high relative β-phase content. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An approach for the analysis of atomically resolved scanning transmission electron microscopy data with multiple ferroic variants in the presence of imaging non-idealities and chemical variabilities based on a rotationally invariant variational autoencoder (rVAE) is presented. We show that an optimal local descriptor for the analysis is a sub-image centered at specific atomic units, since materials and microscope distortions preclude the use of an ideal lattice as a reference point. The applicability of unsupervised clustering and dimensionality reduction methods is explored and is shown to produce clusters dominated by chemical and microscope effects, with a large number of classes required to establish the presence of rotational variants. Comparatively, the rVAE allows extraction of the angle corresponding to the orientation of ferroic variants explicitly, enabling straightforward identification of the ferroic variants as regions with constant or smoothly changing latent variables and sharp orientational changes. This approach allows further exploration of the chemical variability by separating the rotational degrees of freedom via rVAE and searching for remaining variability in the system. The code used in this article is available at https://github.com/saimani5/ferroelectric_domains_rVAE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Density functional theory calculations were performed to study the adsorption and dissociation of methane as well as syngas formation over Ni(111) and NiPt(111) aiming to gain insight into the effect of Ni(111) surface alloying on partial oxidation of methane (POM). Results show that Pt-doped Ni(111) surface is beneficial to the adsorption of CH x and H species while unfavorable to the desorption of H 2 . The process of CH → C + H is found to be the rate-limiting step of successive dehydrogenation of methane on NiPt(111). Especially, the processes of CH 4 → CH 3 + H and CH 3 → CH 2 + H proceed more easily on NiPt(111) than on Ni(111). Three potential pathways for CO formation in the POM process were proposed and calculations identified that CH + O → CHO → CO + H are likely to be the main routes for CO formation on Ni(111) with CH + O → CHO as the rate-limiting step. Further calculations reveal that the formation of CO and H 2 may be more difficult on NiPt(111) than on Ni(111). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The optimal serum thyrotropin (TSH) level for postlobectomy papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) patients is unclear. The objective of this study was to examine the association of TSH and recurrence in postlobectomy patients. Methods: Patients who underwent lobectomy for PTC in a single tertiary hospital from January 2000 to December 2014 were enrolled. The mean TSH of a patient was calculated based on each serum TSH value during follow-up. The reference range of serum TSH was 0.5–4.0 mU/L. Univariate and multivariable analyses were performed with Cox proportional hazards models. Restricted cubic spline (RCS) functions were used to model relationships between mean TSH and recurrence-free survival (RFS). Results: A total of 2297 patients (median age 42 years; 1750 (76.2%) female) were analyzed. Mean TSH below (≤0.5mU/L), in the lower half (0.6–2 mU/L), in the upper half (2.1–4 mU/L), and above (>4 mU/L) the reference range were observed in 668 (29.1%), 1162 (50.6%), 345 (15.0%), and 122 (5.3%) patients, respectively. According to the Cox model and RCS, no association was observed between mean TSH and RFS in the whole cohort, low-risk group and intermediate- to high-risk groups (adjusted p = 0.4737, 0.9314, 0.1859, adjusted p for nonlinear = 0.4589, 0.8622, 0.3010). The only RFS difference observed in the stratified univariate analysis was between patients with mean TSH in the lower half (0.6–2 mU/L, n = 659) and above the reference range (>4 mU/L, n = 68) in the intermediate- to high-risk group (10-year RFS by Kaplan–Meier 84.4% vs. 69.4%, log rank p = 0.011). Conclusions: Mean serum TSH levels are not associated with recurrence. A normal TSH reference range is recommended for postlobectomy PTC patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is a prevalent and highly lethal malignant disease. The epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is crucial in promoting ESCC development. However, the molecular heterogeneity of ESCC and the potential inhibitory strategies targeting EMT remain poorly understood. In this study, we analyzed high-resolution single-cell transcriptome data encompassing 209,231 ESCC cells from 39 tumor samples and 16 adjacent samples obtained from 44 individuals. We identified distinct cell populations exhibiting heterogeneous EMT characteristics and identified 87 EMT-associated molecules. The expression profiles of these EMT-associated molecules showed heterogeneity across different stages of ESCC progression. Moreover, we observed that EMT primarily occurred in early-stage tumors, before lymph node metastasis, and significantly promoted the rapid deterioration of ESCC. Notably, we identified SERPINH1 as a potential novel marker for ESCC EMT. By classifying ESCC patients based on EMT gene sets, we found that those with high EMT exhibited poorer prognosis. Furthermore, we predicted and experimentally validated drugs targeting ESCC EMT, including dactolisib, docetaxel, and nutlin, which demonstrated efficacy in inhibiting EMT and metastasis in ESCC. Through the integration of scRNA-seq, RNA-seq, and TCGA data with experimental validation, our comprehensive analysis elucidated the landscape of EMT during the entire course of ESCC development and metastasis. These findings provide valuable insights and a reference for refining ESCC clinical treatment strategies. • High-resolution single-cell transcriptome data for 209,231 ESCC cells was analyzed. • 87 EMT characteristic molecules were identified. • The expression of EMT characteristic molecules at different stages was heterogeneous. • SERPINH1, a new potential marker for ESCC EMT was identified. • Dactolisib, docetaxel and nutlin could inhibit EMT in ESCC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The aim of the study was to evaluate whether fetal ultrasound could determine bronchial isomerism and distinguish left isomerism from right isomerism. Methods: We identified 110 healthy fetuses and 28 fetuses with isomerism. The outer angle between the tracheal midline and the inner margin of the bronchus is measured. The bronchial angles and the ratio of left/right bronchial angle were used to differentiate bronchial morphology and confirm the presence of bronchial isomerism in pathological cases. Results: The normal angles of the left and right bronchi were 146.98° (95% CI, 145.15–147.81°) and 167.37° (95% CI, 166.30–168.44°), separately. The cutoff bronchial angle of 156.5° was used to distinguish left bronchus from right bronchus. The bronchial isomerism could be identified in all pathological cases by autopsy and bronchial-atrial concordance occurred in 27 pathological cases (96.4%). In 21 pathological cases, the bilateral bronchial angle was <156.5 versus >156.5 differentiated left from right isomerism, respectively. The ratio of the left/right bronchial angle of >0.935 identified 92.9% (26/28) of all pathological cases, with a sensitivity of 89.7%. Conclusions: Fetal ultrasound can detect the bronchial morphology and the presence of bronchial isomerism in fetuses with isomerism according to bronchial angles and the ratio of left/right bronchial angle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Raoultella ornithinolytica is a poorly understood opportunistic pathogen, and the underlying mechanisms of its multidrug resistance and pathogenicity have not yet been comprehensively investigated. The multidrug‐resistant (MDR) strain WM1 was isolated from the blood of a male patient in Tianjin, China, in 2018. Here, we describe the complete genome and provide a genomic analysis of R. ornithinolytica WM1. The isolate was resistant to all tested antimicrobials except amikacin, tobramycin, and tigecycline. Two plasmids, pWM1‐1 (IncHI5) and pWM1‐2 (IncR), carried multidrug‐resistance regions. A large antimicrobial resistance island region resided on pWM1‐1 and exhibited mosaic structures resulting from the acquisition of complex integrations of variable regions, including genes conferring resistance to multiple classes of antimicrobials. Moreover, WM1 possessed virulence‐related elements that encode several virulence factors, including type I fimbriae, Escherichia coli common pilus, type II and VI secretion systems, yersiniabactin, enterobactin, and surface polysaccharide, indicating pathogenic potential. Furthermore, the core genome phylogeny and pan‐genome analyses revealed extensive genetic diversity. Our analysis indicates the need for stringent infection control, antimicrobial stewardship, periodic resistance monitoring, and rational medication to address potential threats posed by MDR R. ornithinolytica strains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Halogenated methyl sulfonic acid (HMSAs) is a new type of disinfection by-product recently reported, and there are few relevant studies, so its source and harm are still unclear. This study mainly discusses the source of halogenated methyl sulfonic acid from the macroscopic level and evaluates the harm to human health. This study clarified that chlorine disinfection is one of the main ways of generating halogenated methyl sulfonic acids (HMSAs) in drinking water. The macroscopic properties of HMSA precursors were analyzed through liquid chromatograph-mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS), 3D fluorescence, and Fourier transform infrared spectrometry. The results showed that polar and positively charged organic compounds with molecular weights of >3 KDa or <0.5 KDa can readily generate HMSAs. By analyzing the main components of natural organic compounds in water and comparing them with the characteristics of organic compounds such as dimethyl sulfoxide and ethyl mercaptan, it meant that natural organic compounds are easily degraded. Humic and fulvic acids contribute the most to HMSA generation. This study lasted for three years and collected water samples from 102 waterworks in 24 cities in China, and the existence of HMSAs in drinking water in different cities was analyzed. The potential health risks associated with HMSAs were used by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) health risk assessment model. The average and maximum concentrations of HMSAs in tap water from key cities in China were taken as evaluation objects. The results showed that the carcinogenic risk coefficient (R) value of both concentrations was far lower than the lowest acceptable carcinogenic risk (1.0 × 10−6) provided by U.S. EPA. Therefore, HMSAs in drinking water in China currently pose no human health risks. • Chlorine disinfection is one of the reasons for the production of halogenated methyl sulfonic acid (HMSAs) in drinking water. • The natural organic matter easy to degrade in water is macro precursor of HMSAs. • Humic acid and fulvic acid are the main factors of HMSAs produced by chlorine disinfection. • HMSAs in drinking water in China has little impact on human health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The balance patch is an important but not well studied area to maintain game fairness and improve player entertainment. In this paper, we examine the effect of balance patch on player's character preference and further explore the moderating effect of psychological distance and character selection pattern. Design/methodology/approach: In study 1, a web crawler was used to get server-side data of 40, 974 multi-player online battle arena (MOBA) players through official application programming interfaces (APIs). A paired-T test and a stepwise regression were performed to verify the hypothesis. In study 2, a 2-patch type (buff vs nerf) × 2 psychological distance (near vs distant) × 2 character selection pattern (stable vs variable) between-subjects design was adopted to confirm the empirical conclusions through questionnaire survey design and further explored the mediating effect of patch adjustment perception. Findings: The analyzed results showed that the buff patch led to an increase in players' character preference, while the nerf patch led to a decrease in players' character preference. Moreover, the main effect was mediated by patch adjustment perception. Furthermore, psychological distance and character selection pattern both moderated the relationship between balance patch and character preference changes. The character preference of the near psychological distance increased more significantly elicited by buff patches and decreased more significantly in an adverse situation. Similarly, players with variable selection pattern of characters were more sensitive to the stimuli, and the character preference of the variable group changed more significantly than that of the stable group caused by balance patch release. Originality/value: This paper studies the influence of a patch on the balance of character strength on player preference, which expands the research on game balance and fairness. The present results contribute to the theoretical research on consumer behavior of psychological distance and character selection pattern elicited by balance patches. Meanwhile, the results indicate that psychological distance theory can apply to the study of the relationship between players and virtual characters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In bio-neural systems, ionic fluxes dominate the regulation of neuroplasticity. Inspired by such biological strategies, indium-zinc-oxide (IZO) transistors gated by nanogranular SiO 2 electrolyte films were proposed for synaptic behavior emulations. Due to the strong proton/electron coupling effect, the carrier density of IZO channel layer can be effectively tuned by a pH buffer solution on the SiO 2 electrolyte dielectrics. The pH-dependent synaptic responses, such as excitatory postsynaptic current (EPSC) and paired pulse facilitation (PPF), were discussed in detail based on the surface charging effect. Most importantly, an enhanced pH sensitivity in terms of the relative gain of EPSC amplitude between pH = 4 and pH = 10 was demonstrated by multi-spike trains. Such IZO-based synaptic transistors are promising for low-power neuromorphic sensing systems. Unlabelled Image • Indium-zinc-oxide synaptic transistors gated by SiO 2 electrolyte films were proposed for synaptic behavior emulations. • The pH-dependent synaptic responses were discussed in detail based on the surface charging effect. • The pH sensitivity in terms of relative amplitude gain between pH = 4 and pH = 10 can be enhanced by multi-spike trains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Graphical abstract Highlights • Microbial precipitated calcite was prepared in the absence/presence of Cd. • Calcite was converted to hydroxyapatite (HAP) under mild hydrothermal condition. • The morphology of HAP was controlled by the presence of Cd. • The calcite-HAP conversion significantly enhanced the stability of Cd in solid. Abstract As one of the most toxic heavy elements, humans are mainly exposed to cadmium (Cd) via daily diets and smoking. Calcite can be used as an amendment directly or precipitated in situ based on microbial-induced carbonate precipitation (MICP) technology to immobilize Cd in soil with potential release of Cd due to calcite dissolution. Therefore, we converted microbial-induced calcite to less soluble hydroxyapatite and investigated the phase and morphology evolutions of the solids, as well as the immobilized efficiency, distribution and release of Cd. The results showed that the conversion of calcite to hydroxyapatite enhanced Cd removal efficiency up to 1.67% and 33.14% compared to the MICP process and adsorption by calcite, respectively. Accordingly, the released Cd decreased up to 94.10% and 99.96%, respectively. Our findings demonstrated that the conversion of calcite to hydroxyapatite might control the environmental behavior of heavy metals like Cd and can potentially be applied for soil remediation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To evaluate the correlations between the enhancement pattern of intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) on contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) and clinicopathologic findings and prognosis, a retrospective study was performed on 197 patients with mass-forming ICC who underwent pre-operative CEUS and surgical resection. The contrast medium we employed in CEUS was SonoVue, which contains microbubbles consisting of sulfur hexafluoride bubbles within a phospholipid shell. This study was approved by the institutional review board with informed consent waived. Patients were classified into an arterial rim-like enhancement group or an arterial non-rim-like enhancement group, and arterial enhancement patterns were correlated with clinicopathologic factors. Overall survival (OS) times were calculated using the Kaplan-Meier method, and differences between groups were compared with the log-rank test. Univariate and multivariate Cox regression models for OS were used to evaluate the independent prognostic factors. The mean and range of ICC tumor size of the arterial rim-like group (59.41 ± 22.09 mm, 20-100 mm) were similar to those of the arterial non-rim-like group (59.82 ± 30.35 mm, 14-162 mm, p = 0.914). Arterial enhancement patterns were correlated with chronic viral hepatitis or cirrhosis, vascular invasion, lymph node metastasis and single/multiple tumors. A total of 78 patients (39.6%) exhibited arterial rim-like enhancement, and the other 119 patients (60.4%) exhibited arterial non-rim-like enhancement. Arterial enhancement pattern (p = 0.045), vascular invasion (p = 0.005), lymph node metastasis (p = 0.000) and number of tumors (p = 0.001) were independent prognostic factors for OS. The arterial non-rim-like enhancement pattern of ICC on CEUS is an independent prognostic factor for better OS and may offer new information for predicting the prognosis of ICC patients before surgical resection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to research the effect of uncertain rewards on the recommendation intention in referral reward programs (RRPs) and investigate the interaction of tie strength and reward type on the recommendation intention.Design/methodology/approach The research adopts a quantitative exploratory approach through the use of experiments. Study 1 adopted a 2×2 between-participants design ((reward type: certain reward vs uncertain reward)×(tie strength: strong tie vs weak tie)). Respectively, by manipulating uncertain probabilities and expected value, Studies 2 and 3 further explore the effect of uncertain rewards and tie strength on customers’ referral intention.Findings This paper finds the following: compared to certain rewards, customers’ referral intention under uncertain rewards is higher and positive experience has a mediating effect between reward type and recommendation intention; when only the recommender is rewarded, the tie strength between the recommender and the receiver moderates the effect of reward type on the recommendation intention; for strong ties, customers’ recommendation intention is higher in uncertain reward condition, but for weak ties, customers’ willingness to recommend is almost the same in both reward types; when both the recommender and the receiver are rewarded, although certain rewards have a higher expected value than uncertain and random rewards, for strong ties, the participants have a higher referral intention under random rewards than that under uncertain rewards, which have a higher referral willingness than that under certain rewards. Additionally, for weak ties, the reverse is true.Originality/value The research has both theoretical implications for research on uncertain rewards and tie strength and practical implications for marketing managers designing and implementing RRPs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Quartz Enhanced Photoacoustic Spectroscopy (QEPAS), due to the strained material and piezoelectric effect of the Quartz Tuning Fork (QTF), the in-plane mode of QTF is generally detected, requiring micron-scale precise and stable optical alignment and convergence. It poses a significant challenge for the use of light sources and has become a bottleneck for practical implementations of QEPAS. In this paper, a ppb-level all-optical off-axis QEPAS gas sensor based on dual-wavelength demodulation of out-of-plane mode is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. A dual-wavelength Fabry-Perot (FP) Interferometer with Ellipse Fitting-Differential Cross Multiply (EF-DCM) algorithm is designed and employed to demodulate the out-of-plane mode of off-axis QTF, which is approximately 80 times stronger than the conventional in-plane mode. This work established a novel ultra-sensitive off-axis QEPAS-based hydrogen sulfide (H 2 S) sensor with a 1.5 W fiber-amplified near-infrared diode laser. The minimum detection limit and normalized noise equivalent absorption of the developed H 2 S sensor is 74.19 ppb with 1 s integration time and 2.68 × 10−9 W∙cm−1∙Hz−1/2 respectively, beyond previously reported QEPAS-based H 2 S sensors. This technique effectively utilizes the out-of-plane mode of QTF and realizes the simultaneous enhancement of off-axis location and out-of-plane vibration mode detection in QEPAS, allowing a novel approach for the development of ultra-sensitive QEPAS gas sensors with notable practical application prospects. • An out-of-plane vibration mode based QTF was used for off-axis Quartz Enhanced Photoacoustic Spectroscopy (QEPAS). • The dual-wavelength FPI demodulation and the EF-DCM algorithm was proposed to detect the QTF surface vibration. • The developed QEPAS system has reduced the requirement of light source, which can match imperfect beam. • The performance of the system was evaluated using a 1.5 W fiber amplified near infrared diode laser. • The one order of magnitude sensitivity improvement was realized compared with traditional off-axis QEPAS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electrical manipulation of charged ions in electrolyte-gated transistors is crucial for enhancing the electric-double-layer (EDL) gating effect, thereby improving their sensing abilities. Here, indium-zinc-oxide (IZO) based thin-film-transistors (TFTs) are fabricated on flexible plastic substrate. Acid doped chitosan-based biopolymer electrolyte is used as the gate dielectric, exhibiting an extremely high EDL capacitance. By regulating the dynamic EDL charging process with special gate potential profiles, the EDL gating effect of the chitosan-gated TFT is enhanced, and then resulting in higher pH sensitivities. An extremely high sensitivity of ∼57.8 mV/pH close to Nernst limit is achieved when the gate bias of the TFT sensor sweeps at a rate of 10 mV/s. Additionally, an enhanced sensitivity of 2630% in terms of current variation with pH range from 11 to 3 is realized when the device is operated in the ion depletion mode with a negative gate bias of −0.7 V. Robust ionic modulation is demonstrated in such chitosan-gated sensors. Efficiently driving the charged ions in the chitosan-gated IZO-TFT provides a new route for ultrasensitive, low voltage, and low-cost biochemical sensing technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highly luminescent GdVO 4 :Eu3+/carbon dots (CDs) nanocomposite was synthesized by hydrothermal deposition method for the first time. With the use of dialyzed CDs solution as precursor, the synthetized composite shows negligible emission intensity of CDs. On replacing the dialyzed CDs solution with the crude one, highly luminescent composite can be obtained successfully. Based on the analysis of XPS and FT-IR spectra, one can deduce that the existence of a large amount of citrate anions, ethylenediamine cations and polymer-like CDs in the crude CDs solution make it as nutrient solution of CDs, which can not only facilitate growth of CDs on the surface of GVE, but also greatly prevent nitrogen atoms from falling off the particles during the hydrothermal deposition process. For the dialyzed CDs solution, due to the ions and polymer-like CDs being thoroughly dialyzed, the coated CDs are fragile during hydrothermal deposition process. Besides, the effects of different dosages of ammonia on emission intensities of the two composites are studied. Based on the designable patterns for security application, one can think that the highly luminescent composite is one of the most promising candidates in the anti-counterfeiting field. • Highly luminescent GdVO 4 :Eu3+/CDs nanocomposite was synthesized by hydrothermal deposition method. • The hydrothermal deposition method was used to synthesize highly luminescent composite related to CDs for the first time. • The crude CDs solution was used as precursor, which acts as the nutrient solution of N-CDs. • The nutrient solution can not only facilitate growth of CDs on the surface of GVE, but also greatly prevents nitrogen atoms from falling off the particles during hydrothermal deposition process. • The prepared composite is one of the most promising candidates in the anti-counterfeiting field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]