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Normalized signal intensity (SI) obtained from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has been used to track anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) postoperative remodeling. We aimed to assess the effect of MRI sequence (PD: proton density‐weighted; T2: T2‐weighted; CISS: constructive interference in steady state) on postoperative changes in healing ACLs/grafts. We hypothesized that CISS is better at detecting longitudinal SI and texture changes of the healing ACL/graft compared to the common clinical sequences (PD and T2). MR images of patients who underwent ACL surgery were evaluated and separated into groups based on surgical procedure (Bridge‐Enhanced ACL Repair (BEAR; n = 50) versus ACL reconstruction (ACLR; n = 24)). CISS images showed decreasing SI across all timepoints in both the BEAR and ACLR groups (p < 0.01), PD and T2 images showed decreasing SI in the 6‐to‐12‐ and 12‐to‐24‐month postoperative timeframes in the BEAR group (p < 0.02), and PD images additionally showed decreasing SI between 6‐ and 24‐months postoperation in the ACLR group (p = 0.02). CISS images showed texture changes in both the BEAR and ACLR groups, showing increases in energy and decreases in entropy in the 6‐to‐12‐ and 6‐to‐24‐month postoperative timeframes in the BEAR group (p < $\lt $ 0.04), and increases in energy, decreases in entropy, and increases in homogeneity between 6 and 24 months postoperation in the ACLR group (p < 0.04). PD images showed increases in energy and decreases in entropy between 6‐ and 24‐months postoperation in the ACLR group (p < 0.008). Finally, CISS was estimated to require a smaller sample size than PD and T2 to detect SI differences related to postoperative remodeling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tomatoes contain many secondary metabolites such as β-carotene, lycopene, phenols, flavonoids, and vitamin C, which are responsible for antioxidant activity. SlSGR1 encodes a STAY-GREEN protein that plays a critical role in the regulation of chlorophyll degradation in tomato leaves and fruits. Therefore, the present study was conducted to evaluate the sgr1 null lines based on their physicochemical characteristics, the content of secondary metabolites, and the γ-Aminobutyric acid (GABA) content. The total soluble solids (TSS), titrated acidity (TA), and brix acid ratio (BAR) of the sgr1 null lines were higher than those of the wild type(WT). Additionally, the sgr1 null lines accumulated higher levels of flavor-inducing ascorbic acid and total carotenoids compared to WT. Also, the total phenolic content, total flavonoids, GABA content, and 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical content of the sgr1 null lines were higher than those of the WT. Therefore, these studies suggest that the knockout of the SGR1 gene by the CRISPR/Cas9 system can improve various functional compounds in tomato fruit, thereby satisfying the antioxidant properties required by consumers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study proposes a slip prevention algorithm with a load angle controller to prevent the slip phenomenon in dual-rotor PM synchronous motor (DR-PMSM) drives. A DR-PMSM employs inherent magnetic coupling between the inner and outer rotors for power transmission. This structure may lead to slip and desynchronization between the inner and outer rotors at sudden load variations; therefore, a slip prevention algorithm is necessary to enhance its reliability. Conventional passive slip prevention algorithms may induce load angle oscillation around the critical load angle, which will result in desynchronization between the inner and outer rotors. The PI load angle controller proposed in this study can prevent slip and load angle oscillation near the critical angle. The effectiveness of the proposed slip prevention algorithm is verified through mathematical modeling and simulation with MATLAB/Simulink, as well as through an experiment on a horse-power DR-PMSM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explored the effects of trust in a supervisor (TIS) on social loafing behaviors of employees. In addition, this study examined the mediating effect of perceived organizational support (POS) on the relationship between trust in a supervisor and employees' social loafing behaviors. It also examined the moderating effects of perceived organizational politics (POP) on the relationship between TIS and POS, TIS and social loafing behaviors, and POS and social loafing behaviors. Data were collected from local government employees in Korea, and the final sample was 260. Our results indicate that trust in a supervisor has indirect negative effects on social loafing behaviors mediated by POS. In addition, it was found that the effects of TIS on POS and POS on social loafing behaviors were moderated by POP. The results of this study contribute to the extant literature on social loafing behaviors. Moreover, the findings imply that political behaviors in organizations might induce social loafing behaviors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Continuous efforts were made in detecting cracks in images. Varied CNN models were developed and tested for detecting or segmenting crack regions. However, most datasets used in previous works contained clearly distinctive crack images. No previous methods were validated on blurry cracks captured in low definitions. Therefore, this paper presented a framework of detecting the regions of blurred, indistinct concrete cracks. The framework divides an image into small square patches which are classified into crack or non-crack. Well-known CNN models were employed for the classification and compared with each other with experimental tests. This paper also elaborated on critical factors—the patch size and the way of labeling patches—which had considerable influences on the training performance. Furthermore, a series of post-processes for measuring crack lengths were introduced. The proposed framework was tested on the images of bridge decks containing blurred thin cracks and showed reliable performance comparable to practitioners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, deep learning models proliferate in the prediction of power demand for efficient planning of power consumption. However, the "black-box" characteristics of deep learning hinders from establishing a specific plan because it cannot explain the cause of the prediction. Recently, there are several attempts to explain the result of deep learning through the analysis of the input attributes that influence the prediction, but they lack of appropriate explanation because of ignoring the time-series property of the input data. In this paper, we propose a deep learning model to explain the impact of the input attributes on the prediction by taking account of the long-term and short-term properties of the time-series forecasting. The model consists of (i) two encoders to represent the power information for prediction and explanation, (ii) a decoder to predict the power demand from the concatenated outputs of encoders, and (iii) an explainer to identify the most significant attributes for predicting the energy consumption. Kullback–Leibler divergence in the loss function induces the long-term and short-term dependencies in latent space constructed by the second encoder. Several experiments on the benchmark dataset of household electric energy demand show that the proposed method explains the prediction appropriately with the most influential input attributes in the long-term and short-term dependencies. We can trade off the gain of the time-series explanation of the result against a slight degradation of the prediction performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While many scholars point out the effect of the Jewish War on the formation of early Christian identities, not many have analyzed the generational dynamic over this traumatic experience and how the New Testament authors address this issue through their literary efforts. In this article, by utilizing sociological discussions on intergenerational tensions and integration in post-war societies, I present a generational interpretation of the literary efforts in Luke-Acts. I explore how Luke addresses the different understandings of the Temple between the older and younger generations and the trauma of its destruction persisting in the diaspora assemblies of Christ-followers. I argue that Luke, by portraying the old and young in particular ways (ex. Mary-Zechariah; early apostles-Stephen; Saul), attempts to heal the communal trauma of the war, promote mutual understanding between generations, and empower the next generation for the survival of the ekklēsia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Current standard chemotherapy for biliary tract cancer (BTC) has limited survival benefits, and the need for targeted therapies is increasing. This study investigated the genetic profiles and clinical implications of BRCA mutations in patients with advanced BTC. Methods: Targeted high-throughput sequencing was performed on samples obtained from 25 patients with advanced BTC who had received palliative first-line platinum-based chemotherapy. Results: Of the 25 patients, 16 (64.0%) were younger than 65 years of age and 16 (64.0%) were male. The BTC cases consisted of intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (9, 36.0%), extrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (5, 20.0%), and gallbladder cancer (11, 44.0%). The median overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) of all patients were 11.9 months (95% confidence interval [CI]: 9.2–14.6) and 5.6 months (95% CI: 3.8–7.3), respectively. Genomic alterations in TP53 (52.0%), BRCA (36.0%), ATM (32.0%), ERBB2 (24.0%), NOTCH1 (20.0%), and FGFR3 (20.0%) were frequently reported. TP53 and ATM mutations were associated with OS (TP53: hazard ratio [HR] 2.719, 95% CI: 1.074–6.881, p = 0.035; ATM: HR 2.780, 95% CI: 1.091–7.082, p = 0.032). Patients with BRCA mutations had a slightly improved PFS compared to those with intact BRCA (6.7 months [range, 2.7–10.7 months] vs. 5.3 months [range, 3.6–7.0 months], p = 0.090). However, there was no significant difference in OS between groups (BRCA mutant vs. intact: 10.6 months [range, 3.6–17.6 months] vs. 11.9 months [range, 7.5–16.3 months], p = 0.252). BRCA mutations were significantly associated with PFS in the multivariate analysis (HR 0.150, 95% CI: 0.034–0.655, p = 0.012). Conclusion: This study demonstrated that BRCA mutations might have a role as predictive biomarkers for palliative first-line platinum-based chemotherapy in patients with advanced BTC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stay-green 1 (SGR1) protein is a critical regulator of chlorophyll degradation and senescence in plant leaves; however, the functions of tomato SGR1 remain ambiguous. Here, we generated an SGR1-knockout (KO) null line via clustered regularly interspaced palindromic repeat (CRISPR)/CRISPR-associated protein 9-mediated gene editing and conducted RNA sequencing and gas chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry analysis to identify the differentially expressed genes (DEGs). Solanum lycopersicum SGR1 (SlSGR1) knockout null line clearly showed a turbid brown color with significantly higher chlorophyll and carotenoid levels than those in the wild-type (WT) fruit. Differential gene expression analysis revealed 728 DEGs between WT and sgr#1-6 line, including 263 and 465 downregulated and upregulated genes, respectively, with fold-change >2 and adjusted p-value < 0.05. Most of the DEGs have functions related to photosynthesis, chloroplasts, and carotenoid biosynthesis. The strong changes in pigment and carotenoid content resulted in the accumulation of key primary metabolites, such as sucrose and its derivatives (fructose, galactinol, and raffinose), glycolytic intermediates (glucose, glucose-6-phosphate, and fructose-6-phosphate), and tricarboxylic acid cycle intermediates (malate and fumarate) in the leaves and fruit of the SGR-KO null lines. Overall, the SGR1-KO null lines developed here provide new evidence for the mechanisms underlying the roles of SGR1 as well as the molecular pathways involved in photosynthesis, chloroplasts, and carotenoid biosynthesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The brain has a complex structure composed of hundreds of regions, forming networks to cooperate body functions. Therefore, understanding how various brain regions communicate with each other and with peripheral organs is important to understand human physiology. The suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) in the brain is the circadian pacemaker. The SCN receives photic information from the environment and conveys this to other parts of the brain and body to synchronize all circadian clocks. The circadian clock is an endogenous oscillator that generates daily rhythms in metabolism and physiology in almost all cells via a conserved transcriptional–translational negative feedback loop. So, the information flow from the environment to the SCN to other tissues synchronizes locally distributed circadian clocks to maintain homeostasis. Thus, understanding the circadian networks and how they adjust to environmental changes will better understand human physiology. This review will focus on circadian networks mediated by the SCN to understand how the environment, brain, and peripheral tissues form networks for cooperation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Algorithmic bias indicates the discrimination caused by algorithms, which occurs with protected features such as gender and race. Many researchers have tried to define the fairness and devise methods to mitigate bias, but it is still premature to reach the unanimous definition and evaluation metrics of fairness according to society, times and cultures. In this paper, we introduce three evaluation metrics such as parity difference, equalized opportunity and equalized odds that can deal with various definitions of algorithmic bias, and concretely divide the three general approaches further into seven methods with some challenges, resulting in relabeling, generation, fair representation (for pre-processing), constraint optimization, regularization (for in-processing), calibration and thresholding (for post-processing). Among them, the pre-processing method is widely used due to its versatility, but it has limitation to deal with the information on data and features related with bias appropriately. In order to preserve the characteristics of the original data while excluding the information about the features causing bias, we propose a preprocessing approach based on information theory that avoids collision in the dual optimization, where the latent space is divided into two subspaces. Experiments are conducted with the well-known benchmark datasets of Census and COMPAS, and two real-world tasks: facial emotion recognition and text sentiment analysis. The information theoretic approach is promising to achieve fair machine learning by reducing the bias caused by several features such as age, race and gender. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The accurate and timely depiction of the state of severe weather is critical for enhancing forecaster situational awareness. This study attempted to develop a hurricane forecasting model with a warm-start run and investigated the impact of winds observed during a tropical cyclone on long-term lead times. The Hurricane Research System initialized with the Hurricane Local Analysis Prediction System (HRS/HLAPS) was applied to Hurricanes Katrina and Dennis (2005). The forecasting model used a warm-start run with 7% improved wind data and cloud initialization using the HLAPS. The simulated cyclones were more intense and realistic structures, although the performance varied slightly according to the lead time and cyclone characteristics. The results show that the tropical cyclone development (track and intensity) was significantly affected by initial forcing up to 6–12 h, as well as by the forcing of the limit condition after 6 h. The well-organized spiral bands of convective precipitations were also captured, particularly within the 6 h spin-up time due to vertical wind shear and water vapor trapped in the lower atmosphere. This study demonstrates that aircraft-observed winds and convective initialization can be useful for numerical modeling and operational forecasting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

WS 2 -based gas sensors are used for detection of toxic gases at low temperatures due to their high surface area, weak interlayer van der Waals force, and high electrical conductivity. However, in their pristine form, they exhibit poor selectivity. Herein, to increase the selectivity of WS 2 sensors, ZnO shells (10−50) nm were fabricated on WS 2 nanosheets (NSs) using atomic layer deposition. The sensor with a ZnO shell thickness of 10 nm displayed an improved gas response under 4.2 V applied voltage in the self-heating condition. Next, Au, Pt, Pd, and Pt/Pd nanoparticles (NPs) were decorated on WS 2 –ZnO (10 nm) NSs, and the Pt/Pd decorated WS 2 –ZnO (10 nm) NSs exhibited the highest response of 13.77–10 ppm acetone under the fixed applied voltage of 4.2 V. The enhanced output was related to the catalytic nature of the Pt and Pd noble metals, formation of WS 2 –ZnO heterojunctions, and Pt/ZnO and Pd–ZnO Schottky barriers. This study illustrates the promising role of bimetallic Pt/Pd decorations in enhancing the performance of resistive gas sensor. [Display omitted] • Synthesis of WS 2 -ZnO core-shell nanosheets (NSs) with different thickness of ZnO shell (10-50 nm). • The sensor with a ZnO shell thickness of 10 nm exhibited a response of 13.77-10 ppm acetone at 4.2 V. • Decoration of Au, Pt, Pd and Pt/Pd nanoparticles on WS 2 -ZnO (10 nm) NSs. • Enhanced gas response of Pt/Pd codecorated WS 2 -ZnO (10 nm) Nss gas sensor. • Explanation of the underlying sensing mechanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Optimization of materials in heterojunction gas sensors is vital for achieving the highest gas-sensing performance. In this study, we synthesized pristine ZnO, pristine WS 2 nanosheets (NSs), and ZnO with different thicknesses (10–50 nm) on WS 2 NSs to study their gas-sensing properties. It was found that at 150°C and 300°C, the sensors with ZnO layers of 10 and 30 nm, respectively, exhibited the highest response to reducing gases. At low temperatures, the role of WS 2 in gas sensing was dominant, whereas at high temperatures, ZnO played a dominant role. Therefore, the sensor with the thinnest ZnO layer demonstrated the best performance at low temperatures, while at higher temperatures, the sensor with a ZnO thickness of 30 nm exhibited optimal performance. Also, at 300°C, WS 2 was oxidized to WO 3. Furthermore, to decrease overall power consumption, we conducted sensing measurements under self-heating conditions on a WS 2 -ZnO (10 nm) p - n heterojunction NS sensor and found that the gas sensor, under a low applied voltage of 4.2 V, exhibited the highest response to reducing gases. The enhanced gas sensing of the optimized gas sensors was attributed to the formation of heterojunctions and the optimal thickness of the ZnO layer on WS 2 at appropriate temperatures. [Display omitted] • Synthesis of pristine ZnO, pristine WS 2 and WS 2 -ZnO p-n heterojunction (NSs) with different ZnO thickness of 10–50 nm. • Investigation of chemical composition, phases and morphology of different samples. • The WS 2 -ZnO (10 nm) p-n heterojunction NSs gas sensor at 150°C and WS 2 -ZnO (30 nm) p-n heterojunction NSs gas sensor at 300°C had the highest responses to acetone gas, respectively. • The WS 2 -ZnO (10 nm) p-n heterojunction NSs gas sensor under an applied voltage of 4.2 V, revealed the highest response to acetone gas, in self-heating mode. • Explanation of the gas sensing mechanism in detail. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study the deflection of light by a magnetic dipole field in the generalized Born–Infeld electrodynamics. Using the effective index of refraction and the trajectory equation based on geometric optics, we compute the weak bending angle of light passing on the equator of the magnetic dipole. In the limit where the classical Born–Infeld parameter is infinite, the bending angle agree with the one computed from the Euler–Heisenberg Lagrangian. We also compute the bending angle using the geodesic equation of the effective metric induced by a massive object with magnetic dipole. In the massless limit the bending angle agrees with the computation using the trajectory equation. We apply the result to magnetars to estimate the order of magnitude for the bending angle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined why people voluntarily left social media and organised their reasons into perceptional typology. Additionally, it explored relationships among perceptional types, self-esteem, motivation, and personality traits. This study utilised Q methodology, a combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods that is ideal for analysing subjective elements like complex human perceptions or opinions in any situation. Fifty persons in their twenties who voluntarily closed or deactivated their social media account(s) for more than six months were recruited in Korea. Those who left social media of their own accord were sorted into four types. Significant differences in self-esteem and personality traits between cognitive types were also found. This study gave novel descriptive stories of those who quit social media, and categorised the opinions of those who voluntarily closed their accounts. This study extended previous research on social media fatigue and systematically analysed actual quitters' perceptions based on ample discourse; it will theoretically contribute to the development of measuring scales and an understanding of the complexity of social media fatigue. For practical application, social media companies should pay a lot of attention to social media fatigue and quitters, come up with ways to minimise adverse effects and establish growth strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We introduce a simple approach to realize selective H 2 gas sensing using Pd-decoration on Ti 3 C 2 T x MXene. Ti 3 C 2 T x MXene was initially prepared using Ti 3 AlC 2 MAX phase by etching in HF solution and then different amounts of Pd-decoration (1.1, 1.4, 2.3 and 2.6 at%) on Ti 3 C 2 T x MXene were performed using simple reduction of PdCl 2 salt. Various characterizations showed that Pd was uniformly dispersed on Ti 3 C 2 T x MXene nanosheets. The sensors were operated at 25 °C under a self-heating operation. The sensor with an optimal amount of Pd-decoration (2.3 at%) under an applied voltage of 2 V showed a greater response to H 2 gas, with excellent selectivity. Additionally, the optimal sensor retained its performance even after 1000 times tilting and 5000 times bending, demonstrating its high resistance to flexibility. Enhanced selectivity to H 2 gas was ascribed to the catalytic activity of Pd (adsorption of hydrogen by Pd) and formation of Pd-Ti 3 C 2 T x MXene heterojunctions. This research highlights the possibility of realization of a selective H 2 sensor with good flexibility and workability at 25 °C with low power consumption. • Synthesis of Pd-decorated (1.1, 1.4, 2.3 and 2.6 at%)-Ti 3 C 2 T x MXene H 2 sensors. • Pd-decorated (2.3 at%)-Ti 3 C 2 T x MXene showed an excellent selectivity to H 2 gas. • Pd-decorated (2.3 at%)-Ti 3 C 2 T x MXene was able to work at room temperature and at 2 V. • Pd-decorated (2.3 at%)-Ti 3 C 2 T x MXene gas sensor showed an excellent flexibility. • Underlying sensing mechanism is discussed in detail. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, Au- and Pt-decorated Ti 3 C 2 T x MXene gas sensors were used for NH 3 sensing. Initially, Ti 3 C 2 T x MXene was synthesized from Ti 3 AlC 2 MAX by a simple HF etching. Then, various amounts of Au or Pt NPs were decorated on Ti 3 C 2 T x MXene using sodium borohydride. The characterization results showed that separated MXene nanosheets were prepared after etching and Au or Pt NPs were successfully decorated on them. The sensors could operate at room temperature in the self-heating mode. The sensors with 1.92 at% Au or 0.83 at% Pt NPs showed good selectivity for NH 3 gas. In addition, 1.92 at% Au- and 0.83 at% Pt-decorated gas sensors could work under 5 and 3 V applied voltages, respectively. The flexibility of both gas sensors was demonstrated by bending and tilting of the sensors for 5000 and 1000 times, respectively. The formation of Au/MXene or Pt/MXene Schottky junctions and the catalytic effect of noble metals accounted for the good performance to NH 3 gas. The obtained results can facilitate the progress of self-heated and flexible gas sensors using Ti 3 C 2 T x -based gas sensors. • Au- and Pt-decorated Ti3C2Tx MXene gas sensors were fabricated for NH3 gas sensing. • Maximum responses of Au- and Pt-decorated Ti3C2Tx MXene were obtained at 5 and 3 V. • Both Au-and Pt-decorated Ti3C2Tx MXene showed good selectivity to NH3 gas. • The highest-response sensors showed good flexibility under bending up to 120°. • Underlying sensing mechanism is discussed in detail. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

2'-Fucosyllactose (2'-FL), one of the major human milk oligosaccharides, was produced in several engineered microorganisms. However, the low solubility of α-1,2-fucosyltransferase (α1,2-FucT) often becomes a bottleneck to produce maximum amount of 2'-FL in the microorganisms. To overcome this solubility issue, the following studies were conducted to improve the soluble expression of α1,2-FucT. Initially, hydrophobic amino acids in the hydrophilic region of the 6 α-helices were mutated, adhering to the α-helix rule. Subsequently, gfp 11 was fused to the C-terminal of futC gene encoding α1,2-FucT (FutC), enabling selection of high-fluorescence mutants through split-GFP. Each mutant library was screened via fluorescence activated cell sorting (FACS) to separate soluble mutants for high-throughput screening. As a result, L80C single mutant and A121D/P124A/L125R triple mutant were found, and a combined quadruple mutant was created. Furthermore, we combined mutations of conserved sequences (Q150H/C151R/Q239S) of FutC, which showed positive effects in the previous studies from our lab, with the above quadruple mutants (L80C/A121D/P124A/L125R). The resulting strain produced approximately 3.4-fold higher 2′-FL titer than that of the wild-type, suggesting that the conserved sequence mutations are an independent subset of the mutations that further improve the solubility of the target protein acquired by random mutagenesis using split-GFP. • This study aimed to increase the production of 2′-FL by enhancing the solubility of α1,2-fucT. • The alpha helix rule and hydropathy contradiction rule were applied to make various mutants. • Increased solubility of the enzyme was screened through split-GFP using FACS. • The α1,2-fucT with improved solubility and higher production capability was selected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The prognostics and health management (PHM) aims to provide a comprehensive solution for equipment health care. Classifying the operation mode of excavator, one of the tasks in the PHM, is important to evaluate the remaining useful lifetime. Several studies have been conducted to classify the operations with either video or sensor data, but they have several limitations to use only one type of data. A model trained with sensor data cannot classify the similar operations such as "digging" and "ditch digging" , whereas a model with video data is vulnerable to surrounding condition like weather. In this paper, to overcome these shortcomings, we propose a deep neural network ensemble called FusionNet that classifies the operations of excavator. Two models are trained with sensor data and video frames respectively, where the feature extractors are transferred to the FusionNet. The proposed network ensemble performs a flexible and well-optimized classification by automatically calculating weights according to the extracted feature vectors and combining them. To verify the proposed model, several experiments are conducted with the real-world data. The proposed model achieves the accuracy of 99.17% which outperforms the conventional methods. We also confirm that the proposed model can address the shortcomings of using only one type of data and maximize the benefits through the automatic weighting of extracted features. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Droplet evaporation on porous materials is a complex dynamic that occurs with spontaneous liquid imbibition through pores by capillary action. Here, we explore water dynamics on a porous fabric substrate with in-situ observations of X-ray and optical imaging techniques. We show how spreading and wicking lead to water imbibition through a porous substrate, enhancing the wetted surface area and consequently promoting evaporation. These sequential dynamics offer a framework to understand the alterations in the evaporation due to porosity for the particular case of fabric materials and a clue of how face masks interact with respiratory droplets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: When nonunion of scaphoid waist is treated with non-vascularized bone grafting with internal fixation, bony union would be affected not only type of bone graft but also fixation method. Thus, we attempted to investigate whether the bony union depends on how surgeons combine bone grafting and internal fixation. Methods: We treated 38 consecutive patients with unstable nonunion of scaphoid waist. The patients were treated with one of three types of non-vascularized bone grafting and internal fixation by random sampling, regardless of the configuration of the nonunion; cortico-cancellous bone grafting with Kirschner wire (K-wire) fixation group (12 cases), cortico-cancellous bone grafting with headless compression screw fixation group (13 cases) and cancellous bone grafting with K-wire fixation group (13 cases). We compared "union rate" and "time to union" between groups with statistical analysis. We described clinical features of "failure to union" cases. Results: The mean time to union of cancellous bone grafting with K-wire fixation group was significantly shorter than those of other groups. There was also significant difference in mean time to union between cortico-cancellous bone grafting with K-wire fixation group and cancellous bone grafting with K-wire fixation group (when the type of bone grafting was different). All the "failure to union" cases were sclerotic (Herbert type D2) nonunion treated by cortico-cancellous bone grafting. Conclusions: When treating unstable nonunion of scaphoid waist with non-vascularized bone grafting with internal fixation, cancellous bone grafting with K-wire fixation seems to be advantageous in terms of mean time to union. It seems that both bone grafting and fixation method affected "mean time to union" but the type of bone grafting was more influential in achieving union. The failure to union might be frequent in case of Herbert type D2 nonunion combined with cortico-cancellous bone grafting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, with the development of renewable energy such as solar power and wind power, the dc grid has garnered attention and the dc circuit breakers essential to the dc grid have been actively studied. The dc solid-state circuit breaker (dc SSCB) can quickly break the fault current within 1 ms compared with a mechanical circuit breaker, which does the same in several tens of milliseconds. The previous thyristor dc SSCB cannot naturally charge the commutation capacitor for fault current breaking, and thus its control of operation is complicated. Thus, this article proposes a new thyristor dc SSCB, which can naturally charge the commutation capacitor without complicated switching operation. It can not only perform the fast breaking of fault current, but also the operating duties of reclosing and rebreaking. The operating characteristics of the proposed dc SSCB are verified by the experimental results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This study aimed to stratify the early pneumonia trajectory on chest radiographs and compare patient characteristics in dyspneic patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Materials and methods: We retrospectively included 139 COVID-19 patients with dyspnea (87 men, 62.7±16.3 years) and serial chest radiographs from January to September 2020. Radiographic pneumonia extent was quantified as a percentage using a previously-developed deep learning algorithm. A group-based trajectory model was used to categorize the pneumonia trajectory after symptom onset during hospitalization. Clinical findings, and outcomes were compared, and Cox regression was performed for survival analysis. Results: Radiographic pneumonia trajectories were categorized into four groups. Group 1 (n = 83, 59.7%) had negligible pneumonia, and group 2 (n = 29, 20.9%) had mild pneumonia. Group 3 (n = 13, 9.4%) and group 4 (n = 14, 10.1%) showed similar considerable pneumonia extents at baseline, but group 3 had decreasing pneumonia extent at 1–2 weeks, while group 4 had increasing pneumonia extent. Intensive care unit admission and mortality were significantly more frequent in groups 3 and 4 than in groups 1 and 2 (P <.05). Groups 3 and 4 shared similar clinical and laboratory findings, but thrombocytopenia (<150×103/μL) was exclusively observed in group 4 (P =.016). When compared to groups 1 and 2, group 4 (hazard ratio, 63.3; 95% confidence interval, 7.9–504.9) had a two-fold higher risk for mortality than group 3 (hazard ratio, 31.2; 95% confidence interval, 3.5–280.2), and this elevated risk was maintained after adjusting confounders. Conclusion: Monitoring the early radiologic trajectory beyond baseline further prognosticated at-risk COVID-19 patients, who potentially had thrombo-inflammatory responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

DC microgrids have received remarkable interest in both the academia and the industry for over a decade, yet the protection of dc microgrids remains as a major challenge. This challenge is rooted in the nonexistence of natural zero-crossing point in dc microgrids which rapidly increase the fault current. In this article, a novel bidirectional dc solid-state circuit breaker (dc SSCB) to reinforce the bidirectional flow of energy which significantly boosts the overall efficiency of the power supply of dc microgrids is presented. The proposed topology can perform the operating duty of reclosing and rebreaking, and the commutation capacitor is charged and recharged naturally without any complex control of the main or auxiliary thyristors, which is considered atypical of existing topologies. A clear and detailed analysis of the operation of the proposed topology is presented. Finally, the experimental results are presented to confirm the effectiveness of the proposed novel bidirectional dc SSCB. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Noise from automobiles, such as buzzing, squeaking, and rattling (BSR) noises, is a key factor in automobile quality assessment. It is necessary to classify these noises for appropriate handling and prevention. Although many researchers have conducted studies to classify noise, they suffer from several problems: difficulty in extracting appropriate features, insufficient data to train a classifier, and weak robustness to surrounding noise. This paper proposes a method called latent semantic controlling generative adversarial networks (LSC-GAN) to solve these problems. To capture the features of data, a variational autoencoder (VAE), an autoencoder with approximate inference in a latent Gaussian model, learns the data representation by projecting them into the latent space according to their features and reconstructing the projected data. Because the generator and the discriminator of the LSC-GAN are trained simultaneously, the capacity to extract the characteristics of the data is improved and a knowledge space of classifiable data is also expanded with insufficient data. While data are generated by the generator, the encoder projects them back to the latent space according to their characteristics to advance the ability to extract features. Finally, the encoder is trained to the classifier, which is trained to classify BSR noises. The proposed classifier outperforms other models and achieves an accuracy of 96.68%. We confirm using a confusion matrix that the proposed model classifies the types of insufficient class better than other models. Our proposed model classifies data with accuracy of 94.68%, even if the data contains surrounding noise, which means it is more robust to BSR with surrounding noise than other models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Colloidal droplets on flat solid substrates commonly leave symmetric ring-like deposits due to coffee-ring flows during evaporation. On inclined substrates, droplet shapes may become asymmetric by gravity. On this basis, it is not clear how their evaporation dynamics and final deposits are changed depending on inclination. Here we explore evaporation and deposition dynamics of colloidal droplets on inclined substrates, mainly by controlling colloidal particle size, substrate inclination, and relative humidity, which are crucial to gravitational intervention and evaporation dynamics. We experimentally investigate two different flows with opposite directions: downward sedimentation flows by gravity ( v s ) and upward capillary flows by evaporation ( v c ). We find that the competition of two flows determines the formation of final deposits with a flow speed ratio of α = v s / v c . Notably, for α ≪ 1, evaporation-driven upward flows overwhelm sedimentation-driven downward flows, resulting in accentuated particle movement towards the top ring, which seems to defy gravitational intervention. We suggest a possible explanation for the flow speed dependence of final deposits in evaporating colloidal droplets. This study offers a framework to understand the intervention of inclination to the formation of final deposits and how to overcome the deposit pattern radial asymmetry, achieving symmetric deposit widths from inclined colloidal droplets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chemokines are a superfamily of chemotactic cytokines that regulate the migration and immune responses of leukocytes. Depending on the arrangement of the first two cysteine residues, chemokines are divided into four groups: CXC (α), CC (β), C (γ), and CX3C (δ). Chemokine C–C motif ligand 34 (CCL34) is a member of the CC chemokine family and is known as a fish-specific CC chemokine. In this experiment, we analyzed the molecular cloning and characterization of the PoCCL34 gene in olive flounder (Paralichthys olivaceus), including CCL34a.3 (PoCCL34a.3) and CCL34b.3 (PoCCL34b.3). The amino acid sequence of PoCCL34 has four highly conserved cysteine residues and it has a C–C motif. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that PoCCL34 was phylogenetically clustered in the fish CCL34 subcluster. Recombinant PoCCL34 induced chemotaxis of head kidney leukocytes in a dose-dependent manner. Head kidney leukocytes stimulated with PoCCL34 also exhibited significant respiratory burst activity and increased expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-1β, IL-6, and CXCL8), but the overall expression of interferon-related genes (IFN-α/β, IFN-γ, Mx, and ISG15) did not increase. Olive flounder injected with recombinant PoCCL34 demonstrated increased expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-1β and IL-6) in the head kidney. However, there was no increase in the expression of interferon-related genes (IFN-α/β, IFN-γ, Mx, and ISG15). Additionally, recombinant PoCCL34 induced high lysozyme activity in the serum of the flounder. These results indicate that although PoCCL34 is not involved in the antiviral response, it may play a significant role in the overall immune response of the flounder, particularly in mediating the inflammatory response. • PoCCL34 (PoCCL34a.3 and PoCCL34b.3) genes were identified in olive flounder. • PoCCL34 induced the migration of head kidney leukocytes in a dose-dependent manner. • PoCCL34 enhanced respiratory burst activity and increased expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines. • Olive flounder inoculated with PoCCL34 showed high lysozyme activity in serum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most of the lateral dislocations reported in previous literatures occurred to healthy patients by accident. However, our patient had limping gait, flexion contracture of the elbow, and spasticity in an affected arm due to a traumatic brain lesion 20 years ago. He fell down while taking a walk and presented with a lateral elbow dislocation accompanying tingling sense in ulnar nerve territory of his hand. Open reduction was performed. The torn MCL was reattached and the ulnar nerve was released. In postoperative six months, the range of motion was regained and the neurologic symptoms were resolved. This case shows that flexion contracture of elbow joint and a brain lesion causing motor disturbance of upper extremity could be the specific condition causing lateral elbow dislocation. Open reduction including repair of MCL and decompression of ulnar nerve, seems quite reasonable for the treatment of the lateral elbow dislocation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The prevalence of abnormal cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) findings in recovered coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients is unclear. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of abnormal CMR findings in recovered COVID-19 patients. Methods: A systematic literature search was performed to identify studies that report the prevalence of abnormal CMR findings in recovered COVID-19 patients. The number of patients with abnormal CMR findings and diagnosis of myocarditis on CMR (based on the Lake Louise criteria) and each abnormal CMR parameter were extracted. Subgroup analyses were performed according to patient characteristics (athletes vs. non-athletes and normal vs. undetermined cardiac enzyme levels). The pooled prevalence and 95% confidence interval (CI) of each CMR finding were calculated. Study heterogeneity was assessed, and meta-regression analysis was performed to investigate factors associated with heterogeneity. Results: In total, 890 patients from 16 studies were included in the analysis. The pooled prevalence of one or more abnormal CMR findings in recovered COVID-19 patients was 46.4% (95% CI 43.2%–49.7%). The pooled prevalence of myocarditis and late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) was 14.0% (95% CI 11.6%–16.8%) and 20.5% (95% CI 17.7%–23.6%), respectively. Further, heterogeneity was observed (I2 > 50%, p < 0.1). In the subgroup analysis, the pooled prevalence of abnormal CMR findings and myocarditis was higher in non-athletes than in athletes (62.5% vs. 17.1% and 23.9% vs. 2.5%, respectively). Similarly, the pooled prevalence of abnormal CMR findings and LGE was higher in the undetermined than in the normal cardiac enzyme level subgroup (59.4% vs. 35.9% and 45.5% vs. 8.3%, respectively). Being an athlete was a significant independent factor related to heterogeneity in multivariate meta-regression analysis (p < 0.05). Conclusions: Nearly half of recovered COVID-19 patients exhibited one or more abnormal CMR findings. Athletes and patients with normal cardiac enzyme levels showed a lower prevalence of abnormal CMR findings than non-athletes and patients with undetermined cardiac enzyme levels. Trial registration The study protocol was registered in the PROSPERO database (registration number: CRD42020225234). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dupuytren disease (DD) is a fibroproliferative disorder that originates at the palmar fascia and results in flexion contracture of the digits. The gold standard treatment for DD has been surgery. Surgical treatment of DD can be done with various methods, from percutaneous needle fasciotomy to dermatofasciectomy. The most commonly used surgical treatment is limited fasciectomy (LF). The potential complications of limited fasciectomy include long recovery time, scarring, neurovascular injury, and tendon injury. Minimally invasive treatment for DD, which is simple and allows for rapid return of function, has gained popularity amongst both patients and surgeons. Currently, minimally invasive treatments for DD include percutaneous needle fasciotomy (PNF) and collagenase clostridium histolyticum (CCH). In this review, we provide an overview of the minimally invasive treatments for Dupuytren disease and summarize the current evidence regarding these minimally invasive treatments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study the propagation of light under a strong electric field in Born–Infeld electrodynamics. The nonlinear effect can be described by the effective indices of refraction. Because the effective indices of refraction depend on the background electric field, the path of light can be bent when the background field is non-uniform. We compute the bending angle of light by a Born–Infeld-type Coulomb charge in the weak lensing limit using the trajectory equation based on geometric optics. We also compute the deflection angle of light by the Einstein–Born–Infeld black hole using the geodesic equation and confirm that the contribution of the electric charge to the total bending angle agree. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is a performance‐dictating cathodic reaction in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs), and Pt‐based alloy catalysts are the mainstay for the ORR. Owing to their excellent activity and stability, Pt‐based intermetallic nanostructures have recently emerged as promising ORR catalysts. Their ordered atomic arrangement of constituent elements with a constant stoichiometry endows higher stability, and more intensified strain and ligand effects than the random alloy phase. In this account, recent advances in Pt‐based intermetallic nanocatalysts are reviewed. We illustrate recent advances in synthetic strategies for these catalysts, and discuss the underlying principles for the activity enhancement. We also introduce notable examples that have demonstrated high performances in practical PEMFCs. Finally, current issues and future directions are suggested. We envisage that the rapid progress in the intermetallic nanocatalysts would lead to their widespread usage in PEMFCs in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban mobility is a vital aspect of any city and often influences its physical shape as well as its level of economic and social development. A thorough analysis of mobility patterns in urban areas can provide various benefits, such as the prediction of traffic flow and public transportation usage. In particular, based on its exceptional ability to extract patterns from complex large-scale data, embedding based on deep learning is a promising method for analyzing the mobility patterns of urban residents. However, as urban mobility becomes increasingly complex, it becomes difficult to embed patterns into a single vector because of its limited capacity. In this paper, we propose a novel method for analyzing urban mobility based on deep learning. The proposed method involves clustering mobility patterns and embedding them to capture their implicit meaning. Clustering groups mobility patterns based on their spatiotemporal characteristics, and embedding provides meaningful information regarding both individual residents (i.e., personalized mobility) and all residents as a whole, enabling a more effective analysis of mobility patterns. Experiments were performed to predict the successive points of interest (POIs) based on transportation data collected from 1.5 million citizens in a large metropolitan city; the results demonstrate that the proposed method achieves top-1, 3, and 5 accuracies of 73.64%, 88.65%, and 91.54%, respectively, which are much higher than those of the conventional method (59.48%, 75.85%, and 80.1%, respectively). We also demonstrate that the proposed method facilitates the analysis of urban mobility through arithmetic operations between POI vectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Optimization of photovoltaic (PV) panel orientation is a significant part of economic evaluation. However, designing a PV system according to only one theoretical optimal orientation is challenging. Installing a PV panel at a specific orientation can cause low economic efficiency, depending on the features of the area. Therefore, in this study, a new term—the tolerance angle—is introduced for quantitatively analyzing the tolerance of the optimal orientation. This term provides a range for the optimal panel orientation according to the target loss and can be used in decision making for practical optimization of PV panel orientation. The validation of the assumption in the definition and calculation model for the tolerance angle is presented and analyzed. Additionally, a simple calculation formula for the theoretical optimal orientation and tolerance angle is derived. The formula can be used in practical applications without complex calculations or considerable data. The tolerance angle is useful in many practical applications, including sites with restrictions. The results of this study are expected to enhance the practicality of panel orientation optimization and thereby improve actual PV panel installation. • Tolerance angle provides a range for optimal photovoltaic panel orientation. • It is useful in practical many applications, including sites with restrictions. • The formula that is simple and requires less data is derived. • The mean tolerance angles for 1%, 5%, and 10% irradiance loss are 9°, 21°, and 30°. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates how two scan strategies impact the microstructural and tensile properties of nanoparticle-infused pre-alloyed water-atomized low-alloy iron powder (Fe-1.50Cu-1.75Ni-0.50Mo) during Laser Powder Bed Fusion (LPBF) under uniform volumetric energy density laser conditions. The two strategies were the rotation method (ROT), in which the laser scan vector was rotated by 67° for each layer (10°, 77°, 144°, 211°, ...), and the zig-zag method (ZZ), in which the vector was rotated by 90° for each layer (45°, −45°, ...). As a result, the relative density of the ROT specimens was measured to be 95.61 ± 1.01 %, while that of ZZ specimens was 99.76 ± 0.17 %. Furthermore, the surface roughness of ROT specimens was higher than that of ZZ specimens (24.05 μm vs. 10.30 μm). It was found that the scan strategy influences not only the bulk characteristics but also the microstructural changes of the specimens, due to variations in intrinsic heat treatment (IHT). In the ZZ specimens, the regular laser scanning direction resulted in a uniform microstructure across different heights. However, in the ROT specimens, the laser scanning direction varied from layer to layer, with fluctuating heat dissipation influencing the melt pool structure, recrystallized grain distribution, sub-grain cellular structure, and precipitation behavior to obtain lower density and higher surface roughness than those of ZZ samples. Therefore, the samples printed using the ZZ method are found to be advantageous for printing pre-alloyed WA iron powders with uniform microstructure and reliable tensile properties. • Nanoparticle-Infused Pre-Alloyed Water-Atomized Iron Powder used for LPBF. • Different Laser Scanning Strategies for WA Powder: Impact on Microstructure. • Tensile Specimens Comparison: Rotation (67°/layer) vs. Zig-Zag (90°/layer). • Rotation Specimens: Lower Density (Lack of Fusion Pores), Rougher Surface. • Zig-Zag Specimens: Stable, Uniform Thermal Behavior in LPBF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Solute carrier family (SLC) transporters are expressed in the digestive system and play important roles in maintaining physiological functions in the body. In addition, SLC transporters act as oncoproteins or tumor-suppressor proteins during the development, progression, and metastasis of various digestive system cancers. SLC22A18, a member of the SLC22 gene family, is an orphan transporter with an unknown endogenous substrate. Previous study revealed that SLC22A18 is downregulated in colorectal cancer tissues and that it acts as a suppressor in colorectal cancer, although the effects of SLC22A18 variants on colon cancer cell proliferation, migration, and invasion are unknown. Therefore, in this study, we identified SLC22A18 variants found in multiple populations by searching public databases and determined the in vitro effects of these missense variations on transporter expression and cancer progression. Our results indicated that three missense SLC22A18 variants—p.Ala6Thr, p.Arg12Gln, and p.Arg86His—had significantly lower cell expression than the wild type, possibly owing to intracellular degradation. Furthermore, these three variants caused significantly higher proliferation, migration, and invasion of colon cancer cells than the wild type. Our findings suggest that missense variants of SLC22A18 can potentially serve as biomarkers or prognostic tools that enable clinicians to predict colorectal cancer progression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Physical phenomena such as arc interference, deflection in droplet transfer, and bulging in weld pool are observed in the tandem gas metal arc welding (GMAW) process. A hot-wire with opposite polarities to the leading and trailing electrodes was introduced to counter these phenomena. The effects of the hot-wire were assessed experimentally. A 3D steady-state numerical analysis model was used to calculate the temperatures and the shapes of the leading and trailing arcs, respectively, as well as the arc flows and the electromagnetic forces. The results of our experiments and our numerical analyses clarify the effects of a decrease in the electromagnetic force around tandem electrodes due to the hot-wire. This decrease mitigates arc interference and the deflection in droplet transfer. Furthermore, it plays a role in reducing the height of the bulge generated on the surface of the weld pool. These effects can prevent defects in tandem GMAW processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The aim of this study was to investigate what should be considered when diagnosing and treating displaced extra-articular fractures based on plain radiographs. Methods: We included 181 extra-articular distal radius fractures with marked displacement requiring surgery, which were diagnosed with posteroanterior (PA) + lateral (Lat) + oblique views (obl). We compared the plain radiographs with CT scans to determine whether the diagnosis was properly made. We described the types of articular involvement incidentally found on CT scans and how the articular involvement was treated. We tested the inter-observer and intra-observer reliability with three orthopedic surgeons. Results: Forty-two (32%) out of 181 displaced extra-articular fractures diagnosed by plain radiographs had intra-articular involvement on CT scans. Dorso-ulnar intra-articular fragment was most commonly found. Thirty-three (78.6%) out of 42 intra-articular involvements required additional reduction and a dorsal approach was used in eight patients. Inter-observer and intra-observer reliability ranged from "substantial" to "almost perfect". Conclusions: When treating displaced extra-articular fractures requiring surgery, CT scans might be necessary to find intra-articular involvement and at least, an oblique view showing the dorso-ulnar corner of the articular surface should be added. Surgeons should consider that extra-articular fractures with marked displacement, which are diagnosed by plain radiographs alone, might have intra-articular involvement requiring additional reduction or fixation via a different incision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Future scientists in engineering fields are expected, and even demanded, to be creative and innovative. Longitudinal studies pertaining to how creativity and academic achievement grow and develop over time remain limited. Purpose This study examines (a) relationships between the creative potential of first‐year engineering students and their graduation grades as well as between the creative potential and graduation grades in nonmajor liberal arts courses, (b) the role of gender in creative potential, and (c) changes in creative potential after 4 years of college life. Method: In this exploratory study, the participants included 57 students from an engineering college in Korea. Data were first collected from 90 first‐year engineering students in August 2013. More than 4 years later in October 2017, 57 of these students were contacted again for follow‐up. Results: A positive relationship was found between the creative potential of engineering students and their academic achievement. Female students exhibited higher creative potential scores than the male students at both time points. Creative potential increased after 4 years, particularly in total creativity score, fluency, and originality. Conclusions: The findings from this study are different from the findings of Western engineering schools in their depiction of a positive relationship between creative potential and grades. This study indicated the possibility of developing creative potential even in adulthood. However, the results should be carefully interpreted not only because of the small sample size but also because of limitations of the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With rapid progress in a power conversion efficiency (PCE) to reach 25%, metal halide perovskite-based solar cells became a game-changer in a photovoltaic performance race. Triggered by the development of the solid-state perovskite solar cell in 2012, intense follow-up research works on structure design, materials chemistry, process engineering, and device physics have contributed to the revolutionary evolution of the solid-state perovskite solar cell to be a strong candidate for a next-generation solar energy harvester. The high efficiency in combination with the low cost of materials and processes are the selling points of this cell over commercial silicon or other organic and inorganic solar cells. The characteristic features of perovskite materials may enable further advancement of the PCE beyond those afforded by the silicon solar cells, toward the Shockley-Queisser limit. This review summarizes the fundamentals behind the optoelectronic properties of perovskite materials, as well as the important approaches to fabricating high-efficiency perovskite solar cells. Furthermore, possible next-generation strategies for enhancing the PCE over the Shockley-Queisser limit are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This preliminary study analyzed the peripheral retinal vascular pattern in children, using ultra-widefield fluorescein angiography, and its association with perinatal conditions. Retrospective review was conducted examining the fluorescein angiographic findings of children with amblyopia (January 2017 to December 2018). We categorized the peripheral vascular patterns into two groups: loop and branching patterns. We investigated differences in these patterns, according to the perinatal condition. Thirty children (9.27 ± 3.41 years old; 47.67% male) were included. An equal number of children had the loop or branching pattern (15:15). The gestational age (GA) in the loop group was significantly shorter than the branching group (32.92 ± 5.62 vs. 36.67 ± 5.63 weeks, p = 0.04). The birth weight of the loop group was significantly lower than the branching group (2.00 ± 1.03 vs. 2.72 ± 0.93 kg, p = 0.03). Gender, age, delivery-type, and visual acuity, were not different between the groups. Lower birth weight and shorter GA were observed in children with the loop pattern. The difference in peripheral retinal vascular patterns, according to birth weight and GA, might be due to the development of immature retinal vessels at birth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study gravitational perturbations of electrically charged black holes in (3+1)-dimensional Einstein–Born–Infeld gravity with a positive cosmological constant. For the axial perturbations, we obtain a set of decoupled Schrödinger-type equations, whose formal expressions, in terms of metric functions, are the same as those without cosmological constant, corresponding to the Regge–Wheeler equation in the proper limit. We compute the quasi-normal modes (QNMs) of the decoupled perturbations using the Schutz–Iyer–Will's WKB method. We discuss the stability of the charged black holes by investigating the dependence of quasi-normal frequencies on the parameters of the theory, correcting some errors in the literature. It is found that all the axial perturbations are stable for the cases where the WKB method applies. There are cases where the conventional WKB method does not apply, like the three-turning-points problem, so that a more generalized formalism is necessary for studying their QNMs and stabilities. We find that, for the degenerate horizons with the "point-like" horizons at the origin, the QNMs are quite long-lived, close to the quasi-resonance modes, in addition to the "frozen" QNMs for the Nariai-type horizons and the usual (short-lived) QNMs for the extremal black hole horizons. This is a genuine effect of the branch which does not have the general relativity limit. We also study the exact solution near the (charged) Nariai limit and find good agreements even far beyond the limit for the imaginary frequency parts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alternating current driven powder electroluminescence (EL) devices with single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) were fabricated to utilize the field enhancement by controlling the position of SWCNTs. The SWCNT conditions, which could lead to increased EL performance, were optimized by examining the characteristics of EL devices after controlling the length of the SWCNTs, where the SWCNT layer was positioned at the interface between the dielectric and emitting layers. The EL device with a short SWCNT layer for a crushing time of 20 min exhibited the highest EL performance of the samples examined. In addition, SWCNTs with the optimized SWCNT condition were inserted at various interfaces to determine the effective position of the SWCNT layer in the EL device. The highest EL performance, such as a 51% and 65% increase in luminance and efficiency, respectively, was achieved by inserting SWCNTs at the interface between the dielectric and emitting layers together with SWCNTs between the emitting layer and bottom electrode. Large increase in EL performance was attributed to the field enhancement by short SWCNTs, leading to increased charge carrier tunneling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Single-element transducer based ultrasound (US) imaging offers a compact and affordable solution for high-frequency preclinical and clinical imaging because of its low cost, low complexity, and high spatial resolution compared to array-based US imaging. To achieve B-mode imaging, conventional approaches adapt mechanical linear or sector scanning methods. However, due to its low scanning speed, mechanical linear scanning cannot achieve acceptable temporal resolution for real-time imaging, and the sector scanning method requires specialized low-load transducers that are small and lightweight. Here, we present a novel single-element US imaging system based on an acoustic mirror scanning method. Instead of physically moving the US transducer, the acoustic path is quickly steered by a water-proofed microelectromechanical (MEMS) scanner, achieving real-time imaging. Taking advantage of the low-cost and compact MEMS scanner, we implemented both a tabletop system for in vivo small animal imaging and a handheld system for in vivo human imaging. Notably, in combination with mechanical raster scanning, we could acquire the volumetric US images in live animals. This versatile US imaging system can be potentially used for various preclinical and clinical applications, including echocardiography, ophthalmic imaging, and ultrasound-guided catheterization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Acoustic-resolution photoacoustic micro-scopy (AR-PAM) is an emerging biomedical imaging modality that combines superior optical sensitivity and fine ultrasonic resolution in an optical quasi-diffusive regime (~1–3 mm in tissues). AR-PAM has been explored for anatomical, functional, and molecular information in biological tissues. Heretofore, AR-PAM systems have suffered from a limited field-of-view (FOV) and/or slow imaging speed, which have precluded them from routine preclinical and clinical applications. Here, we demonstrate an advanced AR-PAM system that overcomes both limitations of previous AR-PAM systems. The new AR-PAM system demonstrates a super wide-field scanning that utilized a 1-axis water-proofing microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) scanner integrated with two linear stepper motor stages. We achieved an extended FOV of 36 × 80 mm2 by mosaicking multiple volumetric images of 36 × 2.5 mm2 with a total acquisition time of 224 seconds. For one volumetric data (i.e., 36 × 2.5 mm2), the B-scan imaging speed over the short axis (i.e., 2.5 mm) was 83 Hz in humans. The 3D volumetric image was also provided by using MEMS mirror scanning along the X-axis and stepper-motor scanning along the Y-axis. The super-wide FOV mosaic image was realized by registering and merging all individual volumetric images. Finally, we obtained multi-plane whole-body in-vivo PA images of small animals, illustrating distinct multi-layered structures including microvascular networks and internal organs. Importantly, we also visualized microvascular networks in human fingers, palm, and forearm successfully. This advanced MEMS-AR-PAM system could potentially enable hitherto not possible wide preclinical and clinical applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Silicone oil (SO) is widely used as a long-term intravitreal tamponading agent for rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD) repair. This study investigated the structural changes of the foveal microvasculature using optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) in patients with RRD treated with vitrectomy and SO tamponade. Thirty-eight patients with unilateral RRD who were treated with vitrectomy and SO tamponade and were followed up for ≥3 months after SO removal were included. En face OCTA images were obtained and foveal avascular zone (FAZ) area and vascular density (VD) were compared between study eyes and unaffected contralateral eyes. The FAZ area in deep capillary plexus (DCP) was larger (P < 0.001) and the VD in DCP was lower (P = 0.022) in the study eyes than in the fellow eyes. The duration of SO tamponade was significantly correlated with the enlargement of FAZ area (P = 0.034) and reduction of VD in DCP (P = 0.015). These changes could reflect vascular insufficiency in eyes with SO tamponade and may represent a potential explanation for the pathogenesis of retinal thinning and unexplained visual loss. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To evaluate the visual prognostic factors in patients with pseudophakic epiretinal membrane (ERM) after vitrectomy using spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT). Method: A retrospective review of patients with pseudophakic ERM having undergone vitrectomy was conducted. Best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) and SD-OCT were conducted before and 1, 3, and 6 months after vitrectomy. Known visual prognostic factors, such as inner-retina irregularity index, central foveal thickness (CFT), central inner retinal layer thickness (CIRLT), cone outer segment tip defect length, and photoreceptor outer segment length, were reviewed and their correlation with BCVA was analyzed. Results: Forty-three patients (mean age: 64.88 ± 10.46 years) with pseudophakic ERM were included. BCVA significantly improved after vitrectomy (logMAR 0.30 ± 0.24 vs. 0.11 ± 0.14, p < 0.001). The preoperative high inner-retina irregularity index significantly correlated with poor postoperative BCVA in patients with pseudophakic ERM (correlation coefficient 0.583, p < 0.001). Postoperative improvements of inner retinal SD-OCT findings, such as inner-retina irregularity index, CFT, and CIRLT, were significantly associated with the amount of BCVA improvement after ERM surgery (correlation coefficients were as follows: inner-retina irregularity index – 0.711, p < 0.001; CFT – 0.462, p = 0.002; CIRLT – 0.596, p < 0.001). However, preoperative outer retinal SD-OCT findings were not associated with postoperative visual prognosis. Conclusion: From this study, we determined the visual prognostic factors of ERM surgery without confounding factors, such as visual acuity improvement following combined cataract surgery, and inner retinal SD-OCT findings more significantly associated with the visual prognosis of ERM surgery compared to outer retinal SD-OCT findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To investigate the changes in the near reading speed after panretinal photocoagulation (PRP) in diabetic retinopathy patients. Methods: This non-randomized, prospective, clinical study enrolled diabetic retinopathy patients who underwent PRP from January 2016 to June 2017. The near reading speed was measured before and 1 week, 1 month, and 4 months after PRP by using an iPad application for the assessment of reading speed; near best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) and subfoveal choroidal thickness (SFCT) were also analyzed. The reading speed of age-matched healthy individuals was compared with that of diabetic retinopathy patients. Results: Forty-seven patients were enrolled in this study. The baseline near reading speed of diabetic retinopathy patients was significantly slower than that of age-matched healthy controls. The near reading speed was reduced at 1 week after PRP, but recovered at 1 and 4 months after PRP. Near BCVA showed a similar pattern after PRP. SFCT increased at 1 week after PRP and significantly decreased at both 1 and 4 months after PRP. Conclusion: The near reading speed of diabetic patients was significantly slower than that of age-matched healthy controls. The speed was temporarily reduced at 1 week after PRP, potentially due to short-term impairment of parasympathetic nerve innervation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of outstanding H 2 -sensing materials is vital for the realization of ecofriendly devices using H 2 -based energy. ZnO nanofibers have excellent H 2 -sensing performance. In this study, we synthesized a series of Co 3 O 4 -loaded ZnO nanofibers with the formula (1-x)ZnO-xCo 3 O 4 (x = 0.03, 0.05, 0.1, and 0.15, representing the molar ratio of Co 3 O 4) via electrospinning to improve the H 2 -sensing properties of pristine nanofibers. The sensing results indicated that a sensor with a nominal composition of 0.95ZnO-0.05Co 3 O 4 had the highest response of ~133 to 10 ppm H 2 gas, with good H 2 selectivity. The main mechanisms underlying the excellent H 2 -sensing capability of the optimized gas sensor involved ZnO surface/grain boundaries and Co 3 O 4. Change of potential barriers at ZnO/ZnO homointerfaces in the H 2 atmospheres, energy levels of ZnO and Co 3 O 4 after intimate contact, and responses of Co 3 O 4 loaded ZnO to H 2 , CO, NO 2 gases. Image 1 • The n - p ZnO–Co 3 O 4 composite nanofibers showed higher H 2 sensing response, superior to that of pristine n –ZnO nanofibers. • The composite nanofibers with composition of 0.95 ZnO-0.05 Co 3 O 4 showed the highest response to H 2 at 300 °C. • H 2 sensing was related to the H 2 -induced reduction of resistance in ZnO and formation p-Co 3 O 4 /n-ZnO heterojunctions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]