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Metal coatings with micron thickness, high conductivity, and a unique structure that can provide exceptional electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding performance to insulation substrates are highly desirable, especially if the production method is inexpensive, pollution‐free, and efficient. In this study, the Ar/H2 mixed atmospheric pressure plasma jet (APPJ) was utilized to reduce AgNO3 to produce PC + ABS substrates coated with silver nanoparticles (AgNPs). It was found that the low roughness AgNPs coating has a multilayer network structure, which could exhibit high conductivity and excellent EMI shielding effectiveness (SE). In conclusion, this method is an excellent choice for producing metal EMI shielding coating. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the considerable potential and significant promise of aluminum scandium nitride (AlScN) ferroelectric materials for neuromorphic computing applications, challenges related to device engineering, along with the considerable structural disorder in thin films grown on various substrates using different vapor synthesis methods, make it difficult to systematically study the structure–property relationship. In this work, we approach such issues from the crystal growth side by successfully growing high-quality single crystal AlScN nanowires through ultra-high vacuum reactive sputtering under high substrate bias and low atomic flux conditions, which leads to simultaneous growth and etching. Characterization of nanowire arrays using X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy shows that the wires are epitaxial single crystals with significantly reduced mosaic spread and predominantly single ferroelectric domains. Moreover, ferroelectric and piezoelectric properties were evaluated using Piezoresponse Force Microscopy. The single crystal AlScN nanowires show an out-of-plane piezoelectric constant d33 that is greater than 20 pm V−1, which is higher than that of pure AlN by a factor of ∼4. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Smartly designed metal/oxides heterojunction via a facile Ar-H 2 plasma reduction strategy. • The in-situ synthesized Ir/IrO 2 heterointerface possesses structural flexibility and abundant active sites. • Ir–IrO 2 /Ti@Ar–H 2 exhibits outstanding electrocatalytic activity and durability for both HER and OER. • Ir–IrO 2 /Ti@Ar–H 2 can used as an efficient and stable bifunctional catalyst for overall water splitting in acidic media. Iridium oxide (IrO 2) has been intensively investigated as an efficient and stable anode catalyst for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in water splitting system. However, the overall water splitting performance of IrO 2 is rarely studied because of its strong adsorption of hydrogen intermediates during the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) process. Herein, a facile Ar/H 2 plasma reduction strategy is developed to activate the HER performance of self-supported IrO 2 by constructing a novel metal/oxide heterostructure. The in-situ synthesized Ir/IrO 2 composite possesses excellent electrical interconnection and abundant catalytic active sites. Meanwhile, dual active sites induced by the strong interface effect between metallic Ir and IrO 2 could optimize the adsorption energy and reaction path for both HER and OER. The optimized Ir–IrO 2 /Ti@Ar–H 2 exhibits remarkable activities with a small overpotential of 58 and 211 mV toward HER and OER, respectively. Besides, Ir–IrO 2 /Ti@Ar–H 2 ||Ir–IrO 2 /Ti@Ar–H 2 electrolyzer only requires an operational voltage of 1.48 V to afford a current density of 10 mA cm−2, much lower than that of commercial Pt/C||IrO 2 (1.61 V). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, an internal fingerprint-guided epidermal thickness of fingertip skin is proposed for optical image encryption based on optical coherence tomography (OCT) combined with U-Net architecture of a convolutional neural network (CNN). The epidermal thickness of fingertip skin is calculated by the distance between the upper and lower boundaries of the epidermal layer in cross-sectional optical coherence tomography (OCT) images, which is segmented using CNN, and the internal fingerprint at the epidermis–dermis junction (DEJ) is extracted based on the maximum intensity projection (MIP) algorithm. The experimental results indicate that the internal fingerprint-guided epidermal thickness is insensitive to pressure due to normal correlation coefficients and the encryption process between epidermal thickness maps of fingertip skin under different pressures. In addition, the result of the numerical simulation demonstrates the feasibility and security of the encryption scheme by structural similarity index matrix (SSIM) analysis between the original image and the recovered image with the correct and error keys decryption, respectively. The robustness is analyzed based on the SSIM value in three aspects: different pressures, noise attacks, and data loss. Key randomness is valid by the gray histograms, and the average correlation coefficients of adjacent pixelated values in three directions and the average entropy were calculated. This study suggests that the epidermal thickness of fingertip skin could be seen as important biometric information for information encryption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: Health-related quality of life(HRQoL) is essential for high-risk pregnant women and their spouses. This study aimed to explore the dyadic associations (including actor and partner effects) among self-efficacy, dyadic coping, and HRQoL of high-risk pregnant women and their spouses and examine the mediating effect of dyadic coping.This cross-sectional study recruited participants from two Grade A tertiary hospitals in China from October 2022 to September 2023. A questionnaire including the Chinese version of the General Self-Efficacy Scale, Dyadic Coping Inventory, and 12 Short Form Health Survey Scales was used for the survey. The actor-partner interdependence mediation model was constructed to test dyadic associations and mediating effects.In the actor effects, self-efficacy was positively associated with dyadic coping and HRQoL (P < 0.05). Regarding partner effects, pregnant women’s self-efficacy was positively associated with spouses’ dyadic coping and physical health (P < 0.05). Dyadic coping partially mediated the relationship between self-efficacy and HRQoL for both groups(P < 0.05).The HRQoL of high-risk pregnant women and their spouses requires urgent attention. Enhancing self-efficacy and dyadic coping in these couples is related to their improved physical and mental health. Healthcare professionals should consider interactions between couples and include them together in perinatal care. Intervention programs for couples or families based on existing positive psychology and dyadic interventions may work together to improve the HRQoL of couples.Methods: Health-related quality of life(HRQoL) is essential for high-risk pregnant women and their spouses. This study aimed to explore the dyadic associations (including actor and partner effects) among self-efficacy, dyadic coping, and HRQoL of high-risk pregnant women and their spouses and examine the mediating effect of dyadic coping.This cross-sectional study recruited participants from two Grade A tertiary hospitals in China from October 2022 to September 2023. A questionnaire including the Chinese version of the General Self-Efficacy Scale, Dyadic Coping Inventory, and 12 Short Form Health Survey Scales was used for the survey. The actor-partner interdependence mediation model was constructed to test dyadic associations and mediating effects.In the actor effects, self-efficacy was positively associated with dyadic coping and HRQoL (P < 0.05). Regarding partner effects, pregnant women’s self-efficacy was positively associated with spouses’ dyadic coping and physical health (P < 0.05). Dyadic coping partially mediated the relationship between self-efficacy and HRQoL for both groups(P < 0.05).The HRQoL of high-risk pregnant women and their spouses requires urgent attention. Enhancing self-efficacy and dyadic coping in these couples is related to their improved physical and mental health. Healthcare professionals should consider interactions between couples and include them together in perinatal care. Intervention programs for couples or families based on existing positive psychology and dyadic interventions may work together to improve the HRQoL of couples.Results: Health-related quality of life(HRQoL) is essential for high-risk pregnant women and their spouses. This study aimed to explore the dyadic associations (including actor and partner effects) among self-efficacy, dyadic coping, and HRQoL of high-risk pregnant women and their spouses and examine the mediating effect of dyadic coping.This cross-sectional study recruited participants from two Grade A tertiary hospitals in China from October 2022 to September 2023. A questionnaire including the Chinese version of the General Self-Efficacy Scale, Dyadic Coping Inventory, and 12 Short Form Health Survey Scales was used for the survey. The actor-partner interdependence mediation model was constructed to test dyadic associations and mediating effects.In the actor effects, self-efficacy was positively associated with dyadic coping and HRQoL (P < 0.05). Regarding partner effects, pregnant women’s self-efficacy was positively associated with spouses’ dyadic coping and physical health (P < 0.05). Dyadic coping partially mediated the relationship between self-efficacy and HRQoL for both groups(P < 0.05).The HRQoL of high-risk pregnant women and their spouses requires urgent attention. Enhancing self-efficacy and dyadic coping in these couples is related to their improved physical and mental health. Healthcare professionals should consider interactions between couples and include them together in perinatal care. Intervention programs for couples or families based on existing positive psychology and dyadic interventions may work together to improve the HRQoL of couples.Conclusion: Health-related quality of life(HRQoL) is essential for high-risk pregnant women and their spouses. This study aimed to explore the dyadic associations (including actor and partner effects) among self-efficacy, dyadic coping, and HRQoL of high-risk pregnant women and their spouses and examine the mediating effect of dyadic coping.This cross-sectional study recruited participants from two Grade A tertiary hospitals in China from October 2022 to September 2023. A questionnaire including the Chinese version of the General Self-Efficacy Scale, Dyadic Coping Inventory, and 12 Short Form Health Survey Scales was used for the survey. The actor-partner interdependence mediation model was constructed to test dyadic associations and mediating effects.In the actor effects, self-efficacy was positively associated with dyadic coping and HRQoL (P < 0.05). Regarding partner effects, pregnant women’s self-efficacy was positively associated with spouses’ dyadic coping and physical health (P < 0.05). Dyadic coping partially mediated the relationship between self-efficacy and HRQoL for both groups(P < 0.05).The HRQoL of high-risk pregnant women and their spouses requires urgent attention. Enhancing self-efficacy and dyadic coping in these couples is related to their improved physical and mental health. Healthcare professionals should consider interactions between couples and include them together in perinatal care. Intervention programs for couples or families based on existing positive psychology and dyadic interventions may work together to improve the HRQoL of couples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"Sputtering damage" arising from high-energy negative ions plays a pivotal role in shaping the characteristics of indium tin oxide (ITO) thin films deposited through direct-current magnetron sputtering (DCMS). To mitigate this issue, we employ DCMS with an external anode. The increment in anode bias V A from 0 to +60V effectively diminishes the average kinetic energy of negative ions such as O−, O2− and InO− by reducing the cathode voltage. Additionally, the flux of positive ions (e.g., Ar+, In+, Sn+, O+) increases and their ion energy distribution functions (IEDFs) exhibit supplementary peaks at plasma potentials. Both facilitate film crystallization, as evidenced by the structural transition from subgrain to grain formations. Heightened surface roughness markedly enhances optical transmittance. Due to a reduced oxygen sticking coefficient, films grown with higher V A values exhibit increased oxygen vacancies, which serve as the primary charge carriers for ITO films. Consequently, ITO films attain their lowest resistivity (7.81 × 10 − 4 Ω c m) and highest optical transmittance (78.71 %) at V A = +60V. This investigation underscores the significant influence of the external anode bias on both ion behavior and film growth, providing a viable approach to enhance the electrical and optical properties of ITO films. • Elevating the external anode bias mitigates high-energy negative ions while promoting the generation of positive ions. • Increased external anode bias enhances crystallinity, alters orientation, and boosts oxygen vacancies in ITO films. • Higher external anode bias yielded ITO films with reduced resistivity and improved visible light transmittance. • External anode can mitigate ion-induced "sputtering damage" without reducing deposition rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]