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Abstract Background Solitary fibrous tumor (SFT) is a rare mesenchymal lesion that has a wide anatomic distribution. However, this lesion rarely occurs in the oral or maxillofacial region. Methods A retrospective review was performed to evaluate the clinical symptoms, radiological images, pathology and immunohistochemistry results of 9 patients with SFTs treated between January 2015 to April 2024 in our institute. Surgical tumor resection was administered to all patients. Follow-up for these patients spanned until the conclusion of April 2024. Results The series contained 3 males and 6 females, with the mean age 50.6 years (range: 25 to 73 years). The tumors were distributed at six different sites, including the tongue, submandibular region, cheek, sublingual gland, mandible, and hard palate. Clinically, the mass grew gradually and usually without obvious clinical symptoms. On imaging examination, the boundaries of all the tumors were clear, except for one patient with a mandibular tumor. Surgical excision was performed in all patients. Histological characteristics and positive immunostaining for STAT6, CD99, CD34 and Bcl-2 were the most important criteria for a final diagnosis. All tumors were positive for CD34 and Bcl-2. Only one tumor was negative for STAT6. While CD99 was negative in one case and weakly positive in two cases. All patients had no local recurrence during the follow-up period ranging from 1 to 100 months (mean 41.4 months). Conclusions Benign SFTs occurring in the oral and maxillofacial region are rare, and surgery is the primary treatment for this tumor. It usually presents as a distinctly bordered heterogeneous mass on imaging. The tumors can compress surrounding bone tissue leading to bone resorption, and in rare cases, it may exhibit invasive resorption. SFTs should be included in the differential diagnosis of lesions in the oral and maxillofacial region.

CO2 capture from coal power plants is an important and necessary solution to realizing carbon neutrality in China, but CCS demonstration deployment in power sector is far behind expectations. Hence, the reduction potential of energy consumption and cost for CCS and its competitiveness to renewable powers are very important to make roadmaps and policies toward carbon neutrality. Unlike the popular recognition that capturing CO2 from flue gases is technically and commercially mature, this paper notes that it has been proved to be technically feasible but far beyond technology maturity and high energy penalty leads to its immaturity and therefore causes high cost. Additionally, the potential energy penalty reduction of capture is investigated thermodynamically, and future CO2 avoidance cost is predicted and compared to renewable power (solar PV and onshore wind power). Results show that energy penalty for CO2 capture can be reduced by 48%-57%. When installation capacity reaches a similar scale to that of solar PV in China (250 GW), CO2 capture cost in coal power plants can be reduced from the current 28-40 US$/ton to 10-20 US$/ton, and efficiency upgrade contributes to 67%-75% in cost reduction for high coal price conditions. In China, CO2 capture in coal power plants can be cost competitive with solar PV and onshore wind power. But it is worth noting that the importance and share of CCS role in CO2 emission reduction is decreasing since renewable power is already well deployed and there is still a lack of large-scale CO2 capture demonstrations in China. Innovative capture technologies with low energy penalties need to be developed to promote CCS. Results in this work can provide informative references for making roadmaps and policies regarding CO2 emission reductions that contribute towards carbon neutrality.

The emergence of millimeter-scale soft actuators has significantly expanded the potential applications in areas such as search and rescue, drug delivery, and human assistance, due to their high flexibility. Despite these advancements, achieving precise control over the intricate movements of soft crawlers poses a significant challenge. In this study, we have developed an all-optical approach that enables manipulation of propulsive forces by simultaneously modifying the magnitude and direction of friction forces, thereby enabling complex motions of soft actuators. Importantly, the approach is not constrained by specific actuator shapes, and theoretically, any elongated photothermal actuator can be employed. The actuator was designed with an isosceles trapezoid shape, featuring a top width of 2 mm, a bottom width of 4 mm, and a length of 8 mm. Through our manipulation approach, we showcase a proof-of-concept for complex soft robotic motions, including crawling (achieving speeds of up to 2.25 body lengths per minute), turning, avoiding obstacles, handling and transferring objects approximately twice its own weight, and navigating narrow spaces along programmed paths. Our results showcase this all-optical manipulation approach as a promising, yet unexplored tool for the precision and wireless control for the development of advanced soft actuators.

Artificial helical microswimmers with shape-morphing capacities and adaptive locomotion have great potential for precision medicine and noninvasive surgery. However, current reconfigurable helical microswimmers are hampered by their low-throughput fabrication and limited adaptive locomotion. Here, a rotary holographic processing strategy (a helical femtosecond laser beam) is proposed to produce stimuli-responsive helical microswimmers (

The flexible operation of carbon capture units is crucial for the economic performance of coal-fired power plants equipped with CO2 capture systems. This paper aims to investigate the impact of electricity, CO2, and fuel prices on the economic operation of such plants. A novel economic optimization model is proposed, integrating a static model of the carbon capture system with a particle swarm optimization algorithm. A new concept, the CO2 boundary price, is introduced as a key metric for determining the operating conditions of CO2 capture units. The CO2 boundary price rises when the power load decreases due to the decline in power generation efficiency, and it also increases with rising fuel prices, as the cost of steam for CO2 capture increases. Additionally, when the objective is to meet power load demand, CO2 prices have a great influence on the operation of CO2 capture units, assuming fixed coal and electricity prices. However, when the primary goal is to maximize plant profitability, the system’s operational conditions are strongly influenced by the relative prices of electricity and CO2. The proposed optimization model and the uncovered price-effect mechanisms provide valuable insights into the economic operation of carbon capture power plants.

The use of ‘Electrostatic tweezers’ is a promising tool for droplet manipulation, but it faces many limitations in manipulating droplets on superhydrophobic surfaces. Here, we achieve noncontact and multifunctional droplet manipulation on Nepenthes-inspired lubricated slippery surfaces via triboelectric electrostatic tweezers (TETs). The TET manipulation of droplets on a slippery surface has many advantages over electrostatic droplet manipulation on a superhydrophobic surface. The electrostatic field induces the redistribution of the charges inside the neutral droplet, which causes the triboelectric charged rod to drive the droplet to move forward under the electrostatic force. Positively or negatively charged droplets can also be driven by TET based on electrostatic attraction and repulsion. TET enables us to manipulate droplets under diverse conditions, including anti-gravity climb, suspended droplets, corrosive liquids, low-surface-tension liquids (e.g. ethanol with a surface tension of 22.3 mN·m ^−1 ), different droplet volumes (from 100 nl to 0.5 ml), passing through narrow slits, sliding over damaged areas, on various solid substrates, and even droplets in an enclosed system. Various droplet-related applications, such as motion guidance, motion switching, droplet-based microreactions, surface cleaning, surface defogging, liquid sorting, and cell labeling, can be easily achieved with TETs.