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The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the experiences of China recruiters during the pandemic, particularly with their job stress and sense of job security. The study also explored the new norms of Chinese students' recruitment following the post-pandemic crisis. Using qualitative analysis, we found that China recruiters experienced different stressors during the pandemic regardless of their working location. The participants recognized the importance of communication and seeking institutional support to help overcome their stress during the pandemic. They suggested that higher education administrators should be sensitive to the needs of their international recruiters. The participants also suggested several new norms for future recruitment, such as using the hybrid recruitment model, promoting university collaboration, initiating joint programs between US and Chinese institutions, and hiring domestic recruiters. Implications for practice are discussed. [Note: The page range (104-120) shown on the PDF is incorrect. The correct page range is 104-121.]

Benefiting from their simple and cost‐effective fabrication procedures, printable mesoscopic perovskite solar cells (p‐MPSCs) exhibit substantial potential for large‐scale production. In p‐MPSCs, the thickness of the perovskite filled in the TiO2 and ZrO2 mesoporous layers is ≈3 µm. Therefore, the perovskite crystallization process is more intricate and challenging in the mesoporous structure than the general planar thin film (0.3–0.5 µm). In this work, a multifunctional fluorinated molecule is applied to work as an additive to improve the perovskite crystallization, enhance the device efficiency, and elevate the operational stability. This additive forms robust coordination between its carbonyl groups and uncoordinated Pb2+, thereby effectively passivating defects. The hydrophobic properties of the fluorinated molecule contribute to the device's water‐resistant capability and long‐term operational stability. With these synergistic effects, the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of small‐area cells (0.1 cm2) reaches 20.15% under 1 sun illumination. Large‐area modules (56.4 cm2) are fabricated and exhibit a PCE of 15.41%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Popular solution‐processed approaches for producing the active layer of perovskite solar cells (PSCs) generally have to make compromise between crystallinity and compactness by inducing a rapid crystallization process with explosive nucleation and limited growth via removing solvent quickly. Here, a practical growth‐dominated in‐plane directional crystallization technique (IPDC) with a deeply retarded crystallization process for the scalable preparation of PSCs are reported. During the low‐temperature annealing, a tiny chamber with a small height is built atop the wet perovskite precursor film to restrain the vertical diffusion and removal of solvent vapor. The chamber eliminates the vertical solvent vapor gradient and induce a horizonal in‐plane gradient of solvent vapor pressure (SVP) toward the preset exhaust port which allows the slow escape of solvent vapor to outer space. In this way, nucleation is induced preferentially near the port and the as‐formed heterogeneous nuclei then grow continuously and directionally. With IPDC, sufficient filling of perovskite with high crystallinity and obvious growth orientation is realized in non‐ordered mesoporous scaffolds. An encouraging power conversion efficiency of 19.35% and 16.53% is achieved respectively for the 0.1 and 52.3‐cm2 printable mesoscopic hole‐conductor‐free PSCs with carbon electrodes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Antimonene with a honeycomb layered structure has great application prospects in a wide spectrum of domains due to its high carrier mobility, high thermal conductivity, and layer-dependent electrical properties. Since the first successful synthesis of antimonene by epitaxy in 2015, various fabrication methods have been proposed successively. Herein, several representative synthetic methods are described in detail, including mechanical exfoliation, epitaxial growth, liquid-phase exfoliation, electrochemical exfoliation, etc. In addition, band engineering via modification strategies of antimonene, particularly intercalation and doping, is discussed based on available theoretical studies. By comparing the achieved structure characteristics and performances of these different synthesis and modification strategies, we present promising future developments and critical challenges for antimonene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The power conversion efficiency (PCE) of single‐junction perovskite solar cells (PSCs) is being rapidly promoted towards their theoretical limit, with a certified value of 25.7%. Reducing optical loss will further contribute to PCE improvement. Here, the optical loss including reflection loss, absorption loss, and transmission loss in printable mesoscopic perovskite solar cells (p‐MPSCs) is analyzed. A printable mesoporous SiO2 antireflection coating for improving the transmittance of the fluorine‐doped tin oxide (FTO) glass substrate by reducing optical reflection at the air/glass interface is reported. With modulated porosity and thickness, the mesoporous SiO2 film constructs a graded refractive index interface and increases the transmittance of FTO glass by ≈2%–4% in the spectral range of 350–800 nm at normal incident angle with the highest transmittance improved from 85% to 89%. The SiO2 coating also exhibits wide‐angle and broadband antireflection properties. The coatings successfully help p‐MPSCs obtain about an average 3% enhancement in the short‐circuit current density (JSC) and PCE. This study demonstrates the necessity of optical management for efficient solar cells and provides a cost‐effective and scalable antireflection coating for the future realistic application of PSCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the experiences of China recruiters during the pandemic, particularly with their job stress and sense of job security. The study also explored the new norms of Chinese students' recruitment following the post-pandemic crisis. Using qualitative analysis, we found that China recruiters experienced different stressors during the pandemic regardless of their working location. The participants recognized the importance of communication and seeking institutional support to help overcome their stress during the pandemic. They suggested that higher education administrators should be sensitive to the needs of their international recruiters. The participants also suggested several new norms for future recruitment, such as using the hybrid recruitment model, promoting university collaboration, initiating joint programs between US and Chinese institutions, and hiring domestic recruiters. Implications for practice are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Hearing loss is one of the most common sensory disorders. Recent findings have shown that the apoptotic program and autophagy are related to hearing loss. The aim of the study was to explore the effects of noise and cisplatin exposure on apoptosis and autophagy in the hair cells of the cochleae.Material and Methods: C57BL/6 mice were randomly divided into 3 groups (n = 10 for each): the control group, the noise model group and the cisplatin model group. Auditory brainstem response (ABR) measurements were used to detect the hearing thresholds. TUNEL assay was used to evaluate cell apoptosis. Western blot and immunofluorescence were performed to examine the apoptosis- and autophagy-related proteins.Results: The mice exhibited substantial hearing loss after noise and cisplatin exposure. Additionally, more TUNEL positive cells were observed in the mice after noise and cisplatin exposure compared with the control group. Moreover, the protein expression levels of Beclin-1, LC3-II, Bax and cleaved caspase-3 were significantly increased, while the expression of Bcl-2 was notably decreased in the cochlea after noise (p = 0.0278, 0.0075, 0.0142, 0.0158, 0.0131 respectively) and cisplatin (p = 0.0220, 0.0075, 0.0024, 0.0161, 0.0452 respectively) exposure compared with the control group. Besides, the ratio of LC3-II/LC3-I was substantially higher in the mice treated by cisplatin (p = 0.0046) and noise (p = 0.0220) compared with the control group.Conclusions: Our findings demonstrated for the first time that noise and cisplatin exposure promoted apoptosis and autophagy in the hair cells of the cochleae. This study provides new insights into the mechanisms of noise- or cisplatin-induced hearing loss. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By conducting several sets of hindcast experiments using the Beijing Climate Center Climate System Model, which participates in the Sub-seasonal to Seasonal (S2S) Prediction Project, we systematically evaluate the model's capability in forecasting MJO and its main deficiencies. In the original S2S hindcast set, MJO forecast skill is about 16 days. Such a skill shows significant seasonal-to-interannual variations. It is found that the model-dependent MJO forecast skill is more correlated with the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) than with the El Niño-Southern Oscillation. The highest skill is achieved in autumn when the IOD attains its maturity. Extended skill is found when the IOD is in its positive phase. MJO forecast skill's close association with the IOD is partially due to the quickly strengthening relationship between MJO amplitude and IOD intensity as lead time increases to about 15 days, beyond which a rapid weakening of the relationship is shown. This relationship transition may cause the forecast skill to decrease quickly with lead time, and is related to the unrealistic amplitude and phase evolutions of predicted MJO over or near the equatorial Indian Ocean during anomalous IOD phases, suggesting a possible influence of exaggerated IOD variability in the model. The results imply that the upper limit of intraseasonal predictability is modulated by large-scale external forcing background state in the tropical Indian Ocean. Two additional sets of hindcast experiments with improved atmosphere and ocean initial conditions (referred to as S2S_IEXP1 and S2S_IEXP2, respectively) are carried out, and the results show that the overall MJO forecast skill is increased to 21-22 days. It is found that the optimization of initial sea surface temperature condition largely accounts for the increase of the overall MJO forecast skill, even though the improved initial atmosphere conditions also play a role. For the DYNAMO/CINDY field campaign period, the forecast skill increases to 27 days in S2S_IEXP2. Nevertheless, even with improved initialization, it is still difficult for the model to predict MJO propagation across the western hemisphere-western Indian Ocean area and across the eastern Indian Ocean-Maritime Continent area. Especially, MJO prediction is apparently limited by various interrelated deficiencies (e.g., overestimated IOD, shorter-than-observed MJO life cycle, Maritime Continent prediction barrier), due possibly to the model bias in the background moisture field over the eastern Indian Ocean and Maritime Continent. Thus, more efforts are needed to correct the deficiency in model physics in this region, in order to overcome the well-known Maritime Continent predictability barrier. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]