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Nonadherence to recommended health behaviors reportedly correlates with the prevalence and health outcomes of COPD, but the factors contributing to multiple health promotions are not well understood.To examine the factors associated with nonadherence to health behaviors, specifically focusing on COPD severity.We conducted a secondary data analysis with data from the 2016-2019 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. The analyzed data were from 1,627 individuals aged over 40 years who had a FEV1/FVC ratio70% measured via spirometer. In this study, nonadherence to health behaviors is the sum of seven health-promoting behaviors in terms of smoking cessation, alcohol abstinence, regular exercise, weight control, recommended sleep time, influenza vaccination, and medical check-up.COPD patients' nonadherence to health behaviors was significantly associated with comorbidity (p=0.017), stress (p=0.002), and COPD severity (moderate, severe; p=0.010, p=0.039, respectively). In addition, the moderate and severe COPD groups showed a higher nonadherence rate than the mild COPD group. Specifically, nonadherence to weight control was the most significantly different behavior according to COPD severity levels, based on the GOLD classification of airflow limitation.Our study findings support that those with higher levels of stress, comorbidities, and severe disease conditions are less likely to adhere to health behaviors. Thus, healthcare providers and policymakers should provide tailored approaches according to COPD severity to educate and support appropriate health behaviors for individuals with COPD.

Background Various methods have been used to control body temperature in targeted temperature management (TTM), but few studies have compared specific subtypes of surface cooling systems. The aim of this study was to compare the efficiencies and neurological outcomes between hydrogels pad and water-circulating blanket cooling methods. Methods We conducted a multicentre, prospective, registry-based study of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest patients treated with TTM between 2015 and 2018. We compared the neurological outcomes, efficacies for cooling, and adverse events between patients who received TTM using a hydrogel pad and water-circulating blanket cooling. Patients were one-to-one matched using propensity scores to adjust for differences in the baseline characteristics of each cooling method. The primary outcome was a favourable neurological outcome at 6 months. Results We included 1,132 patients in the analysis, 870 of whom underwent hydrogel pad cooling, and the remaining 262 underwent water-circulating blanket cooling. In the unmatched cohort, a greater number of adverse events occurred in the water-circulating blanket group. The favourable neurologic outcome rates at 6 months were similar between the hydrogel pad group and the water circulating blanket group (30.2% vs. 29.8%, p = 0.939). In the propensity-matched cohort, which included 184 pairs, the rates of adverse events between the two groups were similar. The similarity of favourable neurologic outcome rates at 6 months between the two groups persisted (28.8% vs. 29.9%, p = 0.819). Conclusion Neurological outcomes and adverse events between the hydrogel pad cooling and water-circulating blanket cooling groups were similar.

Purpose Oral-mucosal pressure injury (PI) is the most commonly encountered medical device-related PIs. This study was performed to identify risk factors and construct a risk prediction model for oral-mucosal PI development in intubated patients in the intensive care unit. Methods The study design was prospective, observational with medical record review. The inclusion criteria stipulated that 1) participants should be > 18 years of age, 2) there should be ETT use with holding methods including adhesive tape, gauze tying, and commercial devices. Data of 194 patient-days were analysed. The identification and validation of risk model development was performed using SPSS and the SciKit learn platform. Results The risk prediction logistic models were composed of three factors (bite-block/airway, commercial ETT holder, and corticosteroid use) for lower oral-mucosal PI development and four factors (commercial ETT holder, vasopressor use, haematocrit, and serum albumin level) for upper oral-mucosal PI development among 10 significant input variables. The sensitivity and specificity for lower oral-mucosal PI development were 85.2% and 76.0%, respectively, and those for upper oral-mucosal PI development were 60.0% and 89.1%, respectively. Based on the results of the machine learning, the upper oral-mucosal PI development model had an accuracy of 79%, F1 score of 88%, precision of 86%, and recall of 91%. Conclusions The development of lower oral-mucosal PIs is affected by immobility-related factors and corticosteroid use, and that of upper oral-mucosal PIs by undernutrition-related factors and ETT holder use. The high sensitivities of the two logit models comprise important minimum data for positively predicting oral-mucosal PIs.

CIGS-based thin film solar cell (TFSC) technology is emerging as a promising contributor to the solar photovoltaic industry next to the presently leading Si-based technology. Although the theoretical limit of power conversion efficiency (PCE) is as high as 33.5%, the highest experimental PCE so far just exceeded 20% in the past several years. Therefore, significant efforts are still continuing for further performance enhancement of these cells. Considering that the buffer layer has been identified as one of the key factors, the efforts to replace state-of-the-art but toxic CdS buffer layer have yielded promising results. Several studies showed that the alternative buffer layers grown with environmentally benign materials could even produce a better performance than the CdS-based TFSCs. In this regard, atomic layer deposition (ALD) has been proved as one of the best techniques for depositing the alternative buffer layers. Several Zn-based ternary and few other binary (e.g. In2S3) compounds have been investigated to realize an optimum ALD-grown buffer layer. In the recent year, a record PCE of 23.35% was achieved using ALD-grown ZnMgO buffer layer along with chemical bath deposited Zn(O,S,OH) for CIGSSe TFSC. However, in general the ALD-grown buffer layers only could provide PCEs well below 20%. The article presents a comprehensive survey on rapid increase in PCE for several ALD-grown buffer layers during the early period followed by a trend of saturation. Finally, the article discusses the current challenges and future scopes/possibilities for the ALD-grown buffer layers as potential alternatives of CdS toward practical applications of CIGS TFSC.

Clinical data from diverse cancer types shows that the increased T cell infiltration in tumors correlates with improved patient prognosis. Acidic extracellular pH is a major attribute of the tumor microenvironment (TME) that promotes immune evasion and tumor progression. Therefore, antagonizing tumor acidity can be a powerful approach in cancer immunotherapy. Here, Pluronic F-127 is used as a NaHCO3 releasing carrier to focally alleviate extracellular tumor acidity. In a mouse tumor model, intratumoral treatment with pH modulating injectable gel (pHe-MIG) generates immune-favorable TME, as evidenced by the decrease of immune-suppressive cells and increase of tumor infiltrating CD8+T cells. The combination of pHe-MIG with immune checkpoint inhibitors, anti-PD-1 and anti-TIGIT antibodies, increases intratumoral T cell function, which leads to tumor clearance. Mechanistically, extracellular acidity was shown to upregulate co-inhibitory immune checkpoint receptors and inhibit mTOR signaling pathways in memory CD8+T cells, which impaired effector functions. Furthermore, an acidic pH environment increased the expression and engagement of TIGIT and its ligand CD155, which suggested that the extracellular pH can regulate the suppressive function of TIGIT pathway. Collectively, these findings suggest that pHe-MIG holds potential as a new TME modulator for effective immune checkpoint inhibitor therapies.

Tungsten nitride (WNx) thin films were deposited on SiO2 substrates by atomic layer deposition (ALD) using a fluorine- free tungsten metal-organic precursor of tris(3-hexyne) tungsten carbonyl, W(CO)(CH3CH2C ≡ CCH2CH3)3 and NH3 plasma as a reactant at a deposition temperature of 250 °C. Important ALD characteristics, such as self-limiting growth and linear dependency of the film growth on the number of ALD cycles, were obtained with a growth rate of 0.045 nm/cycle. The minimum film resistivity of around ~2800 μΩcm (thickness: ~ 13.3 nm) was stable after 3 days air-exposure, indicating the high stability of these WNx films. Rutherford backscattering spectrometry showed that the N-rich WNx thin films (N/W ratio: ~ 1.56) were deposited with negligible impurities of C and O. Both X-ray diffractometry and transmission electron microscopy analysis showed that ALD-WNx films formed a polycrystalline cubic WN phase with an average grainsize of ~ 6 nm. From scanning Kelvin probe analysis, its work function was determined as 4.79 eV. Detail investigations were carried out after post-annealing of the as-deposited films and formation of metallic-W with significantly reduced sheet resistance was observed upon annealing at and beyond 700 °C. Finally, the ultrathin (~5 nm) ALD-grown WNx film effectively prevented diffusion of Cu even up to 550 °C, promising it as an efficient diffusion barrier material for the Cu interconnect.

The notion of the rectifying control polygon of planar Pythagorean hodograph (PH) curve is extended to the spatial PH curves. We construct the Gauss–Legendre polygon by applying the Gauss–Legendre quadrature to the Pythagorean hodograph. Since the parametric speed of a PH curve is a polynomial, the Gauss–Legendre polygon with enough edges has the rectifying property, that is, the length of the polygon is the same as the length of the spatial PH curve. We also present the method to compute septic PH curves with the given Gauss–Legendre polygon. This method can be used to develop the deformation algorithm for the spatial septic PH curves.

This study evaluated whether the grey-white matter ratio (GWR) assessed via early brain computed tomography (CT) within 2 h after the return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) following cardiac arrest is associated with poor neurological outcomes after 6 months in post-cardiac arrest patients treated with targeted temperature management (TTM).This study used data from the Korean Hypothermia Network prospective registry obtained from November 2015 to October 2017 to assess patients with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) who underwent brain CT within 2 h following the ROSC. The primary endpoint was the neurological outcome 6 months post-cardiac arrest (cerebral performance category; CPC). The GWR was measured using early brain CT images. The subgroup analysis examined the difference in GWRs obtained from early and repeated brain CT.Five-hundred-twelve patients were enrolled. Good (CPC 1-2) and poor (CPC 3-5) neurological outcomes were observed in 162 (31.6%) and 350 (68.4%) patients, respectively. The multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that the GWR measured using early brain CT was a statistically nonsignificant predictor of poor neurologic outcomes (p = 0.727). In patients with poor outcomes, the mean GWR obtained from early and repeated CT images were 1.171 ± 0.058 and 1.091 ± 0.133, respectively (p 0.001); there was no statistically significant difference between the GWRs in patients with good outcomes.The GWR assessed via early brain CT alone is not an independent factor predictive of poor neurologic outcomes but could be useful when used with repeated CT data.

Thrombocytopenia is common and associated with mortality in critically ill patients. However, the time course of platelet counts and its association with the neurologic outcome after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) are not well known. The purpose of this study is to describe the time course of platelet counts in relation to the neurologic outcome in patients undergoing targeted temperature management (TTM) after CA.Review of consecutive patients receiving TTM after out-of-hospital CA between 2009 and 2016. The blood sample was collected daily until 7 days. The primary outcome was poor neurologic outcome at 6 months after CA defined as Cerebral Performance Category of 3-5 and secondary outcome was mortality at 6 months.A total of 261 consecutive patients treated with TTM after OHCA between 2009 and 2016. One hundred seventy-five patients (67.0%) had poor neurologic outcomes 6 months after CA. The changes in the platelet counts over time between the good and poor outcome groups were statistically significant (p 0.001). The platelet counts declined during TTM in both groups. The platelet counts recovered to the normal range at the end of the first week in the good neurologic outcome group. However, the platelet counts remained low in the poor outcome group. Low platelet counts on the 7th day were associated with poor neurologic outcomes (aOR 0.975, 95% CI, 0.961-0.989) and mortality at 6 months (aOR 0.986, 95% CI, 0.975-0.997) after adjusting for covariates.The changes in platelet counts in OHCA patients have a biphasic pattern that is significantly different in patients with good neurologic outcomes and those with poor neurologic outcomes at 6 months. A low platelet count 7 days after CA was associated with a poor neurologic outcome and mortality at 6 months.

Tubular scaffolds have been commonly used for vascular stents, grafts, and replacement of the trachea. Common scaffolds are built from non-biodegradable synthetic polymers that have superior mechanical properties; these polymers include expanded poly(tetrafluoroethylene), poly(ethylene terephthalate), and poly(urethane). Unfortunately, biodegradable polymers are rarely used for vascular scaffolds due to their inferior mechanical properties. To overcome the current limitations of biodegradable tubular scaffolds, a novel polymer melt-tube drawing (MD) process that allows the fabrication of biodegradable vascular scaffolds with high compressive strength has been developed. The machine designed for the MD process uses a combination of melt extrusion and tube-drawing. In comparison to the scaffold prepared by conventional techniques, the poly(lactide) tubular scaffold fabricated using the MD process showed improved compressive strength and recovery ability as well as a smooth surface. Furthermore, the MD-tube displayed extensive chain orientation and increased crystallinity. As a result, this novel MD process has the potential to permit fabrication of biodegradable vascular scaffolds with excellent mechanical properties. It provides an opportunity to greatly expand the application of biodegradable polymeric tubes.

The sluggish kinetics of relatively larger Na-ion still limits the performance of sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) as compared to lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). In this context, a novel route is introduced by coating a thin films of ZnO on a porous 3D Ni-foam scaffold by atomic layer deposition (ALD) for the first time and is used as a superior anode for SIBs without any post-modifications. The scanning electron microscopy along with transmission electron microscopy studies reveal that highly crystalline ZnO can be deposited on such complex 3D Ni-foam with excellent uniformity and conformality. A stable reversible capacity of ~ 65.1 mAh g−1 up to 400 charge-discharge cycles and the excellent rate capability in a wide current density range (30–1000 mA g−1) establish the potential of this composite prepared by a direct and relatively easier method of electrode fabrication. The predominant alloying-dealloying based reactions for Zn-based anode material is also established in SIBs by the post-cycling X-ray photoelectron spectroscopic analyses. The post-cycling analysis of these anodes also reveals the robust structure with good adhesion of the ALD grown films on Ni-foam. In addition, similar study on 2D substrate elucidates the extra advantages of this current strategy. This model efficient route can easily be extended and adopted for any other materials to further enhance the performance of SIBs in future.

In this paper, we report on the selection of an optimal sintering temperature for Ce0.9Gd0.1O2−δ–La0.6Sr0.4Co0.2Fe0.8O3–δ composites through characterization of their microstructural, mechanical, and elastic properties. For this selection, sintering was performed mainly at three different temperatures—1100, 1250, and 1400 °C—for 3 h. The samples were systematically investigated in terms of their relative density, microstructure, flexural strength, hardness, elastic modulus, and Poisson's ratio. An increase in density with an increase in sintering temperature was observed to cause a significant improvement in the flexural strength, hardness, and elastic modulus. However, an excessively high temperature (>1250 °C) was detrimental to the flexural strength and hardness because of the occurrence of grain growth. The optimal sintering temperature was identified to be 1250 °C from an analysis of samples with superior mechanical properties and adequate elastic properties. The optimal flexural strength and hardness were found to be 211 ± 21 MPa and 9.34 ± 0.5 GPa, respectively, at room temperature.

The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated demands for a shift from traditional face-to-face learning to online learning. Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS) is an inquiry-based teaching method using various visual artworks to improve critical thinking and interpersonal skills. VTS has been studied in health professional education mostly in art gallery settings. Implementing VTS during online learning in nursing education has not yet been investigated.This study evaluated the feasibility of incorporating VTS into an undergraduate nursing health assessment course and explored students' perceptions and experiences of VTS.A single-group, posttest-only, concurrent mixed-methods design was used.This study was conducted in an urban nursing college in Seoul, Korea.A convenience sample of 60 second-year undergraduate nursing students enrolled in a health assessment course.We integrated VTS into three skills lab sessions (assessment of older adults, skin assessment, and musculoskeletal system assessment) via on-site sessions or real-time online videoconferencing sessions. Through an online survey, we obtained sociodemographic information, previous VTS experience, measures of teaching orientation, perception of arts-based learning, and VTS evaluation. Additionally, participants were asked to comment on their VTS experiences through free-response questions.Participants rated VTS as an interesting and easy-to-concentrate learning method compared with traditional classes during a COVID-19 pandemic. In participants' narratives, being able to learn diverse perspectives, expanding the scope of thoughts and observations, and sustainable learning were the most commonly positive experiences. A lack of familiarity and the open-ended nature of observations were reported as the most common challenges.Applying VTS in undergraduate nursing education may help students develop critical thinking, communication, and collaboration skills. As an alternative to traditional teaching, implementing VTS via online may have potential to motivate students' engagement to active learning. Future randomized controlled trials are warranted to build evidence on the benefits of VTS.

This study compared the accuracy of a new MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry system, ASTA MicroIDSys system, with that of MALDI Biotyper system for the identification of reference and clinical bacterial and yeast strains. The identification accuracy of the 2 systems was compared using a total of 406 strains comprising 142 aerobic and 180 anaerobic bacterial strains and 84 yeast strains. The genus and species identification rates were 98.0% and 89.4% using MicroIDSys and 96.1% and 89.4% using Biotyper, respectively. The species identification rates of MicroIDSys and Biotyper for aerobic bacteria were 93.0% and 97.2%, respectively, and those for anaerobic bacteria were 85.6% and 81.7%, respectively. The accuracy of yeast identification at the species level was 91.7% using MicroIDSys and 92.9% using Biotyper. These findings indicate that MicroIDSys could be useful for the accurate identification of bacteria and yeast in clinical microbiology laboratories.

This study aimed to develop a post-traumatic growth (PTG) program, based on the PTG promotion resources suggested by Cahlhoun, Cann, and Tedeschi, and to apply it to breast cancer patients to determine its effect.A non-equivalent control group pretest-posttest experimental design was used. In total, 74 participants were enrolled in this study, with 37 in the experimental group and 37 in the control group. The PTG program developed in this study consisted of writing and self-reflection for self-analysis, talking and sharing for self-disclosure, and participation in a self-help group for social support. The instruments used for this study were the Korean version of the Event Related Rumination Inventory, the Korean version of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, and the Korean version of the Post-traumatic Growth Inventory. The data were analyzed with the χThe experimental group that underwent a PTG program had a lower emotional distress score than the control group (anxiety: t = -3.84, p = .001; depression: t = -3.22, p = .002). The experimental group had a lower intrusive rumination (t = -3.55, p = .001) and had higher deliberate rumination score than the control group (t = 2.10, p = .039). The experimental group had a higher PTG score than the control group (t = 2.34, p = .022).The PTG program developed in this study for breast cancer patients has the potential to contribute to the promotion of PTG in breast cancer patients.

Introduction The aim of this study was to identify factors associated with absent hematuria in patients with symptomatic urinary stones. Methods This retrospective study analyzed the clinical and imaging findings of emergency department patients who underwent computed tomography (CT) for suspected ureteral colic over the past 2 years. All patients also underwent a microscopic urinalysis, and the presence of 4 or more red blood cells/high-power field was defined as microhematuria. Results A total of 798 patients were included in this study. Of these patients, 750 (94.0%) presented with hematuria, while 48 (6.0%) urine samples did not have evidence of hematuria. The group with an absence of hematuria was more likely to have a lower stone location (located in an area from the distal ureter to the bladder) and perinephric stranding on CT than the hematuria group (75.0% vs. 54.3%, p = 0.005; 47.9% vs. 30.5%, p = 0.012, respectively). The degree of hematuria at each stone location was significantly different (p = 0.001). In multivariate analysis, perinephric stranding (odds ratios (OR) 1.87 [95% confidence interval (CI) 1.01–3.46], p = 0.047), a lower stone location (OR 2.72 [95% CI 1.37–5.36], p = 0.004), and elevated serum blood urea nitrogen (BUN) levels (OR 1.06 [95% CI 1.01–1.12], p = 0.026) were associated with absent hematuria. Conclusions In this large cohort of patients with renal colic, 6% had no microhematuria. Although some CT findings and elevated BUN were independently associated with hematuria absence, there was no difference in the demographics, time of presentation and degree and location of pain between the groups.

Tungsten disulfide (WS2) thin films are grown on several types of substrates by plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition (PEALD) technique using tungsten hexacarbonyl [W(CO)6] and H2S plasma at a relatively low temperature of 350 °C. The method delivers polycrystalline WS2 film with (0 0 2) preferential growth and the high quality films could be successfully grown with as low as 30 ALD cycles (corresponding to ∼3 nm of thickness). Density functional theory (DFT) calculation results reveal that both adsorption of W(CO)6 and removal of CO ligand would be facilitated by usage of H2S plasma by generating the different defect sites on the basal plane. The typical self-limiting film growth (growth rate of ∼0.1 nm/cycle), characteristic of ideal ALD, is clearly observed with both the precursor and reactant pulsing time. X-ray diffractometry (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS) are performed in details to study the as-grown WS2 film on Si/SiO2 substrate. The analysis results confirm the formation of polycrystalline film, with high purity and well-defined stoichiometry. The as-deposited WS2 films are then explored as an electrode in the field of energy generation as well as energy storage. The films are uniformly and conformally grown on high surface-area 3 dimensional Ni-foam that show excellent activity towards hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Significantly low overpotential of ∼280 mV is observed at a high operational current density of 100 mA cm−2 during HER in acid electrolyte. In addition, the as-grown films on stainless steel substrate also reveal the stable electrochemical performances in Na-ion battery as an anode with reasonably high areal capacity of ∼44.5 μAh cm−2 at the end of 50 charge-discharge cycles.

Introduction BCR-ABL1 mutations require consideration during second-line tyrosine kinase inhibitor selection for patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). The present retrospective analysis compared the frequency of BCR-ABL1 mutations in Asian and white patients in whom imatinib therapy had failed. Patients and Methods A nonstudy cohort (76 Asian patients from community clinical practices) and 2 study cohorts (29 Asian and 352 white patients from dasatinib phase II and III clinical trials) were identified. Results In the nonstudy cohort, 80 mutations were identified; the most frequent was T315I (15%), followed by phosphate-binding loop mutations E255K (11%), G250E (10%), and Y253H (10%). Asian patients had a greater proportion of T315I and phosphate-binding loop mutations compared with the white patients. The nonstudy cohort was less likely to have multiple mutations compared with either study cohort. Single mutations highly resistant to dasatinib, nilotinib, and bosutinib were more frequent in the Asian than in the white cohorts. Conclusion These results suggest that mutational analysis findings will be invaluable for choosing an appropriate second-line tyrosine kinase inhibitor in Asia.

C/SiC (carbon fiber-reinforced silicon carbide) composites are widely used in the aerospace industry and for the fabrication of high-temperature parts owing to their excellent heat and chemical resistances. In this study, the tensile properties of C/SiC composite tubes manufactured by a filament winding method were examined via hoop tensile testing, and the optimal testing conditions were determined by comparing them with the properties of a composite plate specimen. It was found that during tensile testing, bending stress was generated and the strain inside and outside of the gauge section of the composite specimen is shown as tensile and compressive, respectively; as a result, premature damage occurred, which was not observed for the plate specimen. In order to minimize this effect, tensile testing was performed under the improved conditions, at which the side of fixture was close to the side of the test specimen, and the distance between the upper and lower fixtures was small. However, the relatively low strain to failure (which is a unique characteristic of C/SiC composites) suppressed the induction of both strain inside and outside the specimen in the tensile direction, which led to lower tensile strengths of the composite tubes as compared to that of the plate specimen. Because the tensile modulus calculated in this study is very close to that of the plate specimen, the hoop tensile testing method is suitable for determining the modulus values of C/SiC composites.

Ethyl acetate is a volatile organic compound (VOC) that has emerged as a major environmental pollutant and also one of representative components of bio-oil. In this study, mostly metallic Ni particles (size

The aim of this study was to investigate the efficacy of nilotinib (NIL) versus high-dose imatinib (IM) versus sustained standard-dose IM for patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) with suboptimal molecular response to first-line IM therapy. Patients with CML who achieved complete cytogenetic response (CCyR) but not major molecular response (MMR) after 18–24 months on first-line IM therapy were enrolled and divided into three treatment cohorts: NIL 800 mg/day (Cohort 1, n = 28) and IM 800 mg/day (Cohort 2, n = 28) in the RE-NICE study, and sustained IM 400 mg/day (Cohort 3, n = 52) in clinical practice. The primary efficacy variable of cumulative rate of MMR by 12 months was not different among the three cohorts. However, the cumulative incidence of MMR by 36 months was significantly higher in Cohort 1 than Cohort 3 (83.1% vs. 57.1%, P = 0.021), but there were no significant differences in Cohort 1 vs. 2 (P = 0.195) and Cohort 2 vs. 3 (P = 0.297). Different profile for adverse events was observed between NIL and high-dose IM therapy. In conclusion, our data suggested that switching to NIL may provide more effective long-term response than sustaining standard-dose IM for patients with suboptimal molecular response to first-line IM.

Hydrogenated amorphous carbon (a-C:H) thin films were prepared by hydrogen plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition (PE-ALD). The a-C:H thin films were grown at low temperatures in the range of 150–350 °C using CBr4 as the precursor and hydrogen plasma as the reactant. Raman spectroscopy, secondary ion mass spectrometry, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and Fourier transform infrared measurements showed that the a-C:H films consist of hydrogenated nanocrystalline sp3 diamond, disordered sp3 carbon and sp2-hybridized graphitic carbon incorporated with oxygen as a main contaminant. Moreover, the incorporation of bromine and oxygen in the a-C:H films was significantly reduced upon increasing the growth temperature from 200 to 300 °C. Surface hydroxylation and precursor exposure pretreatments were employed to saturate the adsorption of CBr4 precursors and enhance the initial nucleation of carbon during the deposition of the a-C:H thin film by the PE-ALD process. In addition, the conformal growth of a-C:H thin films on three-dimensional structures was confirmed.

The phase purity and crystal structure of dual-phase Ce .9 Gd .1 O 2–δ –La .6 Sr .4 Co .2 Fe .8 O 3–δ (GDC–LSCF) composites were refined using data obtained from X-ray diffraction (XRD) by employing the Rietveld method. Rietveld analysis indicated that the structures of GDC and LSCF phases are well crystallized as cubic Fm 3 m and rhombohedral R 3 c space groups, respectively. Scanning electron microscopy images showed smooth and dense structures, depicting a homogeneous crystalline structure of the samples. When the composites were cooled from their sintering temperature (1250 °C), compressive stresses were generated in the GDC and corresponding tensile stresses were generated in the LSCF due to differences in thermal expansion coefficients. The compressive residual stresses of the composites were investigated by high-angle XRD measurements using the well-known sin 2 ψ method. The average compressive residual stresses in GDC phase are estimated to be − 312 and − 290 MPa for 80 GDC–20 LSCF and 50 GDC–50 LSCF, respectively. The aim of this study is to provide a better understanding of the crystal structures and residual stresses in GDC–LSCF composites through XRD and the suitability of these composites for oxygen transport membranes.

Developing a three-dimensional (3D) neural tissue model is important to comprehensively understand neural development and neuronal degeneration associated with various neurological disorders such as axonopathy and neuronopathy. Here, a new microplatform suitable for constructing neuronal spheroids (neurospheroids) was developed by modulating cell–surface interactions. The inner surface of a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) concave microwell array extensively used in in vitro cell aggregation was modified with typical extracellular matrix (ECM) molecules or carbon nanotubes to control neural spheroid formation. Modulating neuronal cell–ECM interactions could tune 3D intercellular interactions and spheroidal functionality. Neurite outgrowth, a neuronal marker for complex interneuronal signaling, was found to be tightly regulated by cell–ECM interactions in a confined space. Furthermore, amyloid-β (Aβ)-induced axonopathy representing a pathological feature of neurodegenerative diseases in vivo was examined in this study to monitor the degeneration of neurite outgrowth and alteration of neuronal morphology in these neurospheroids. The proposed neural tissue model could be used to study various neurodegenerative diseases in the future.

CoTiO3 perovskite was investigated as an alternative oxygen carrier for chemical looping combustion. The cyclical reduction and oxidation reaction were performed in TGA equipment. When the CoTiO3 particles were reduced, oxygen transfer capacity was maintained at 10.2 wt% during 10th cycles with 15% H2/N2 and 10.5 wt% with 15% CH4/N2. It was similar to the theoretical oxygen transfer capacity, 10.3 wt%. The maximum oxygen transfer rate was 0.015 mmol O2/g/sec during the reduction process. For 15% CH4/N2, the transfer rate was 0.03 mmol O2/g/sec which was twice that resulting from using hydrogen. From XRD and TPR results, CoTiO3 was transformed to Co/TiO2 and CoCx during reduction with hydrogen and methane, respectively. After all cycles, the particles were not agglomerated and appeared to be similar to its initial state. Conclusively, CoTiO3 could be a potential candidate as an oxygen carrier because CoTiO3 shows an improved oxygen transfer capacity and rate.

To compare the clinical significance of 3-month cytogenetic and molecular monitoring, we analyzed 1,410 paired cytogenetic and molecular data from 705 chronic-phase chronic myeloid leukemia patients. Based on early cytogenetic response (ECyR, Ph+≤35%) and molecular response (EMR, BCR-ABL1IS≤10%) at 3 months, the patients were divided into four groups (group 1: ECyR + EMR, n = 560; group 2: no ECyR + EMR, n = 27; group 3: ECyR + no EMR, n = 55; group 4: no ECyR + no EMR, n = 63). By 10 years, major molecular response (MMR), deep molecular response (MR4.5), overall survival (OS), and progression-free survival (PFS) rates were significantly high in group 1 (P

Atomic layer deposition (ALD) is not just a thin film deposition technology limited to the semiconductor IC industries to grow high-k gate dielectric or a Cu diffusion barrier layer. In recent times, it has found plenty of applications in the field of renewable energy due to its precise thickness control up to few angstroms and its unique feature of conformal and uniform coating on any randomly shaped 3D structure. ALD has far-reaching applications in this field, including electrochemical storage, fuel cells, solar photovoltaics (PV), and catalysis for water splitting to produce H2 as a green fuel. In solar PV technology, ALD is now being extensively used as an efficient tool to deposit surface passivation layers, absorber or sensitizer, transparent conducting oxide, and barrier and buffer layers in several kinds of solar cells. Out of all the different layers associated with a solar cell, ALD is majorly used for the development of a very thin n-type buffer layer. This review article presents a systematic chronological study on such ALD-grown buffer layers for thin film solar cells (TSFCs). The study is carried out in detail based on different earth-abundant absorber materials, such as Cu2ZnSn(S,Se)4 (CZTSSe), Cu2O and SnS, for which ALD is successfully used to deposit the buffer layer.

Cobalt oxide (CoOx) thin films were deposited on thermally grown SiO2 substrates by atomic layer deposition (ALD) using bis(1,4-di-iso-propyl-1,4-diazabutadiene)cobalt (C16H32N4Co) and oxygen (O2) as reactants at deposition temperatures ranging from 125 to 300 °C. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Raman spectroscopic analysis indicated that a mixed-phase oxide consisting of CoO and Co3O4 was deposited at temperatures ranging from 125 to 250 °C. However, single-phase Co3O4 was deposited above the deposition temperature of 275 °C. Further, analyses by Rutherford backscattering spectrometry, transmission electron microscopy, and selected area electron diffraction along with XRD and Raman spectroscopy revealed that the single-phase cobalt oxide film was stoichiometric crystalline (spinel structure) with negligible N and C impurities. The optical band gap of the single-phase Co3O4 film was 1.98 eV and increased with decreasing deposition temperature. It was also shown that the mixed-phase cobalt oxide thin films could be converted into single-phase spinel Co3O4 by annealing at 350 °C in O2 ambient. It was further observed that the phase of the ALD-grown cobalt oxide thin film could be controlled by controlling the precursor or reactant pulsing condition. The study revealed that pure Co3O4 phase could be grown at a relatively low temperature (250 °C) by using water vapor as a reactant. Therefore, this work systemically demonstrated several pathways to grow single-phase Co3O4 by ALD using a novel metalorganic cobalt precursor.

The formation of thin amorphous cobalt titanium nitride (CoTiN) layers was investigated using a supercycle method of atomic layer deposition (ALD). The stoichiometry of the resultant ALD CoTiN films was controlled by changing the ratio of Co and TiN thicknesses. X-ray diffraction analysis and transmission electron microscopy observations showed that the microstructure of the ALD Co and TiN was transformed from polycrystalline to amorphous CoTiN. The stoichiometry of the CoTiN layer was affected by the growth characteristics of ALD Co and TiN on each surface. The results revealed that ALD TiN undergoes nucleation incubation on the ALD Co surface, whereas ALD Co does not undergo nucleation incubation on the ALD TiN surface. The properties of the amorphous CoTiN layers were evaluated by diffusion experiments and mechanical tests. Because of the lack of grain boundaries, the CoTiN efficiently blocks the diffusion of Cu at elevated temperatures and exhibits higher hardness compared with ALD Co.