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Background: The monitoring and analysis of quasi-periodic biological signals such as electrocardiography (ECG), intracranial pressure (ICP), and cerebral blood flow velocity (CBFV) waveforms plays an important role in the early detection of adverse patient events and contributes to improved care management in the intensive care unit (ICU). This work provides a quantitative evaluation of existing computational frameworks for the automatic extraction of peaks within ICP waveforms. Methods: Peak detection techniques based on state-of-the-art machine learning models were evaluated in terms of robustness to varying levels of noise. Evaluation was performed on a dataset of ICP signals assembled from 700 hours of monitoring from 64 neurosurgical patients. The groundtruth of the peak locations was established manually on a subset of 13,611 pulses. Additional evaluation was performed using a simulated dataset of ICP with controlled temporal dynamics and noise. Results: The quantitative analysis of peak detection algorithms applied to individual waveforms indicates that all techniques provide acceptable accuracy (RMSE Conclusion: While machine learning-based peak detection methods require manually labeled data for training, these models outperform conventional signal processing ones based on handcrafted rules and should be considered for peak detection in modern frameworks. In particular, peak tracking methods that incorporate temporal information between successive periods of the signals have demonstrated in our experiments to provide more robustness to temporary artifacts that commonly arise as part of the monitoring setup in the NICU.

Background Older adults are more vulnerable to seasonal influenza than younger adults. The immune responses of elderly people to the influenza vaccine are usually poorer than those of young people. We conducted a study to evaluate the immunogenicity and safety of a quadrivalent inactivated influenza vaccine (IIV4) and the influence of age among adults in Tianjin. A total of 167 healthy adults in Tianjin were recruited and administered a single dose of IIV4 from October 2021 to March 2022. Blood samples were collected to assay hemagglutination inhibition (HAI) antibody titers before and 21 to 28 days after vaccination. Safety information was collected for 28 days and 6 months after vaccination. Differences in immunogenicity and safety were compared among different age cohorts, and multivariate logistic regression was used to estimate the effect of age and other factors on seroconversion and seroprotection. Results Overall, the geometric mean titers (GMTs) for all strains in the ≥ 65 age group were lower than those in the P = 0.042) and B/Victoria (OR, 0.964; 95% CI: 0.937–0.992; P = 0.011). All adverse events (AEs) were grade 1 or grade 2, occurred within 28 days after vaccination, and no serious adverse events occurred. Conclusions IIV4 was well-tolerated and immunogenic in healthy adults in Tianjin. Our findings also confirmed that age is an independent factor associated with a lower immune response to IIV4.

In time-reversal invariant systems, all charge Hall effects predicted so far are extrinsic effects due to the dependence on the relaxation time. We explore intrinsic Hall signatures by studying quantum noise spectrum of the Hall current in time-reversal invariant systems, and discover intrinsic thermal Hall noises in both linear and nonlinear regimes. As the band geometric characteristics, quantum geometric tensor and Berry curvature play critical roles in various Hall effects, so are their quantum fluctuations. It is found that the thermal Hall noise in linear order of the electric field is purely intrinsic, and the second-order thermal Hall noise has both intrinsic and extrinsic contributions. In particular, the intrinsic part of the second-order thermal Hall noise is a manifestation of the quantum fluctuation of quantum geometric tensor, which widely exists as long as Berry curvature is nonzero. These intrinsic thermal Hall noises provide direct measurable means to band geometric information, including Berry curvature related quantities and quantum fluctuation of quantum geometric tensor.

Purpose In the context of global economic downturn and intense competition, firms are increasingly resorting to supply chains to acquire capital support and achieve sustainability. This study aims to investigate the effect of supply chain finance (SCF) on corporate sustainability performance (CSP) and identifies SCF-related recipes for CSP. Design/methodology/approach Based on a sample of 1,038 firms that disclose CSP – namely, corporate financial performance (CFP) and environmental, social and governance performance (ESGP) – the authors use a quasi-replication method consisting of empirical analysis with fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to investigate SCF’s effects on CSP. Findings The authors find that SCF has a “doing well by doing good” effect on CSP. CFP can promote the positive effect of SCF and ESGP while ESGP’s positive effect on SCF and CFP is nonsignificant. In addition, heterogeneity tests show that SCF’s promoting effect on CSP is affected by high-low CFP and ESGP. The fsQCA results verify the empirical findings and reveal five SCF-related recipes for achieving high CSP. Research limitations/implications This study has the following two limitations. First, we do not consider how SCF affects CSP in different industries. There is a need to investigate whether industry heterogeneity changes SCF’s effects on CSP, especially in prominent industries, such as the energy industry, with its high susceptibility to ESGP, and the manufacturing industry, with its extensive application of SCF. It will be important to investigate these industries to better understand SCF’s role in sustainability. Second, we study the secondary supply chain – namely, core firm–suppliers and core firm–customers. The authors do not consider financial institutions (e.g. banks and guarantee institutions). SCF modes that include the participation of financial institutions, such as factoring financing and reverse factoring financing, cater more to the capital needs of diversified firms. In the future, studying specific industries that have made significant contributions to the application of SCF along with others that are more sensitive to environmental governance could better highlight the effect of SCF on sustainability and help supply chain managers understand the application value of SCF. Future research could also extend SCF participants into multiple roles to explore separate effects. Tracking financing demanders, fund providers and credit guarantors could capture SCF characteristics more comprehensively. Methodologically, it will be challenging to accurately measure SCF networks in terms of quantification. In future work, this could be performed with the help of artificial intelligence. Practical implications First, our findings indicate that SCF has a “doing well by doing good” effect on core firms. SCF can not only overcome the capital shortage of SMEs but also provide significant benefits to core firms. Second, our findings provide SCF-related recipes to help firms fulfil ESGP obligations without sacrificing CFP under the pressure to “do good.” The authors provide valuable insights and diverse recommendations to help supply chain managers, marketing executives and researchers adjust supply chain management strategies. Third, this work can guide executives in various fields to adopt SCF to achieve sustainability as a risk-mitigation strategy by means of marketing. Originality/value This study identifies better, more straightforward SCF-related recipes for CSP (consisting of CFP and ESGP) using a quasi-replication analysis that improves upon conventional methods such as regression analysis, which have limited power. The authors provide valuable insights and diverse recommendations to help managers pursue sustainable development. The findings point to practical guidelines and feasible solutions that can support well-founded operational strategic and management decision-making, which can enhance a firm’s competitiveness under uncertainty and a sluggish economy.

To evaluate the seismic responses of bundled conductor interconnected electrical equipment, a model of the interconnected system was established. The bundled conductor model was incorporated into the interconnected model, and the electrical equipment was simplified as a 5-degrees of freedom structure. The bending stiffness of the sub-conductor and the constraint effects of the spacer, usually omitted in previous research, are considered in the paper. The iteration method was used to obtain the terminal forces and moments of the bundled conductor. Then, the model was validated by shaking table tests. We investigated the effects of the slackness and bending stiffness of the bundled conductor on the seismic responses of the interconnected system. Considering the bending stiffness of the sub-conductor and the effects of the spacer, the seismic response characteristics of the interconnected electrical equipment were much different from those connected by a flexible conductor without bending stiffness in previous research. Not only the terminal forces, but also the terminal bending moment should also be considered in the seismic performance evaluation of interconnected electrical equipment.

Chronic diabetic wounds affect the quality of life of patients, resulting in significant social and economic burdens on both individuals and the health care system. Although treatment methods for chronic diabetic wounds have been explored, there remains a lack of effective treatment strategies; therefore, alternative strategies must be explored. Recently, the abnormal expression of non-coding RNA in diabetic wounds has received widespread attention since it is an important factor in the development of diabetic wounds. This article reviews the regulatory role of three common non-coding RNAs (microRNA [miRNA], long non-coding RNA [lncRNA], and circular RNA [circRNA]) in diabetic wounds and discusses the diagnosis, treatment potential, and challenges of non-coding RNA in diabetic wounds. This article provides insights into new strategies for diabetic wound diagnosis and treatment at the genetic and molecular levels., Graphical abstract, This manuscript systematically reviews the regulatory effects of non-coding RNA on diabetic wound healing. The topic is novel, rich in content, and clear in logic. It will be helpful for non-coding RNA treatment of diabetic wounds and provides a theoretical basis for clinical application of the non-coding RNA.

The third-order nonlinear Hall effect induced by Berry-connection polarizability tensor has been observed in Weyl semimetals T$_d$-MoTe$_2$ as well as T$_d$-TaIrTe$_4$. The experiments were performed on bulk samples, and the results were interpreted with the semiclassical Boltzmann approach. Beyond the bulk limit, we develop a quantum nonlinear transport theory to investigate the third-order Hall response of a four-terminal setup with time-reversal symmetry in quantum regime. The quantum nonlinear theory is verified on a model system of monolayer MoTe$_2$, and numerical results on the angle-resolved Hall currents are qualitatively consistent with the experiment. More importantly, quantum signatures of the third-order Hall effect are revealed, which are independent of the system symmetry. The first quantum signature is quantum enhancement of the third-order Hall current, which is characterized by sharp current peaks whose magnitudes are three orders larger than the first-order Hall current. Such quantum enhancement originates from quantum interference in coherent transport, and it can be easily destroyed by dephasing effect. The second quantum signature is disorder-induced enhancement of the third-order Hall current for weak disorders. Our findings reveal quantum characteristics of the third-order Hall effect, and we propose feasible ways to enhance it in nanoscale systems. The quantum third-order theory developed in this work provides a general formalism for describing nonlinear coherent transport properties in multi-terminal devices, regardless of the system symmetry.

Development of large-area, low-cost, low-voltage, low-power consumption, flexible high-performance printed carbon nanotube thin-film transistors (TFTs) is helpful to promote their future applications in sensors and biosensors, wearable electronics, and the Internet of things. In this work, low-voltage, flexible printed carbon nanotube TFTs with a large-area and low-cost fabrication process were successfully constructed using ultrathin (∼3.6 nm) AlOx thin films formed by plasma oxidation of aluminum as dielectrics and screen-printed silver electrodes as contact electrodes. The as-prepared bottom-gate/bottom-contact carbon nanotube TFTs exhibit a low leakage current (∼10-10 A), a high charge carrier mobility (up to 9.9 cm2 V-1 s-1), high on/off ratios (higher than 105), and small subthreshold swings (80-120 mV/dec) at low operation voltages (from -1.5 to 1 V). At the same time, printed carbon nanotube TFTs showed a high response (ΔR/R = 99.6%) to NO2 gas even at 16 ppm with a faster response and recovery speed (∼8 s, exposure to 0.5 ppm NO2), a lower detection limit (0.069 ppm NO2), and a low power consumption (0.86 μW, exposure to 16 ppm NO2) at a gate voltage of 0.2 V at room temperature. Moreover, the printed carbon nanotube devices exhibited excellent mechanical flexibility and bias stress stability after 12,000 bending cycles at a radius of 5 mm and a bias stress test for 7200 s at a gate voltage of ±1 V, which originated from the ultrathin and compact AlOx dielectric and the super adhesion force between screen-printed silver electrodes and polyethylene terephthalate substrates.

Special radiation-hard and ultralow-power complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) integrated circuits (ICs) are used in the fields of deep space, nuclear energy, and medical X-ray imaging. In this work, we first constructed radiation-hard, repairable, and sub-1 V-driven printed hybrid CMOS field-effect transistors (FETs) and ICs, which integrate printed carbon nanotube (CNT) (band gap ∼ 0.65 eV) p-type FETs and indium oxide (In2O3) (band gap ∼3.64 eV) n-type FETs on glass substrates using a printed PS-PMMA/[EMIM][TFSI] mixture as the gate dielectric layer. The PS-PMMA/[EMIM][TFSI] mixture gate dielectric layer not only lowered the supply voltage (VDD) by providing ultrahigh gate efficiency but also improved the anti-irradiation ability of the hybrid CMOS FETs and ICs. Specifically, the hybrid CMOS inverters exhibited rail-to-rail output with a high voltage gain and high noise margins at a low VDD that could be scaled down to 0.4 V. Furthermore, the hybrid CMOS FETs and ICs showed excellent radiation hardness, that is, withstanding a 3 Mrad (Si) total irradiation dose (TID) at a dose rate of 560 rad s-1 (Si), which is an exceptional result for CMOS transistors and ICs. Furthermore, the radiation-damaged CMOS FETs could be fully recovered by removing and reprinting the PS-PMMA/[EMIM][TFSI] mixture gate dielectric layer, indicating the ability to repair irradiation damage. This work provides an in-space IC fabrication technology.

Taking advantage of the oil-water interface, we introduced Ag@AgCl quantum dots (QDs) onto 2D Sn3O4 nanosheets to fabricate a composite photocatalyst with a 3D flower-like structure (denoted as Ag@AgCl/Sn3O4). Using the degradation of tetracycline hydrochloride (TC-HCl) and methylene blue (MB) as the examples, the as-prepared Ag@AgCl/Sn3O4 composite with Ag@AgCl weight loading of 1% indicated 9.6 and 7.88 times higher photocatalytic activity than the Sn3O4 nanosheets. Within both degradation reactions, hydroxyl radicals (•OH) and superoxide radicals (•O2−) were identified as the critical oxidation intermediates based on radical trapping and electron spin resonance (ESR) experiments. The unique morphology and photoelectrochemical properties of the as-prepared composites suggested the introduced Ag@AgCl QDs cooperated with the Sn3O4 semiconductor to enhance the utilization of solar energy. Overall, the established heterojunction helped to reduce the transfer barrier of the photoinduced charge carriers, wherein the surface plasmonic resonance (SPR) of Ag nanoparticles was believed to take the main responsibility. The present work combines the Ag@AgCl-QDs and flower-like 3D Sn3O4 microspheres for the first time to achieve an impressive degrading rate of TC-HCl and MB at the Ag@AgCl weight loading as low as 1%.

The lack of long-term air-stable and solution-processed n-doping methods for printed single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) thin film transistors (TFTs) limits their integrations into printed complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) circuits. In this paper, a new chemically modified epoxy amine ink was developed as the chemical dopant and encapsulant to enable the uniform n-type SWCNT-TFTs with long-term air stability (6 months). The epoxy amine inks were dropped onto the printed p-type TFT device channels in a single-step solution process. As a result, printed top-contact n-type SWCNT-TFTs were obtained with well-balanced electrical chararcteristics comparable to their p-type counterparts. The matched p-type and n-type SWCNT-TFTs were thus integrated into the printed CMOS inverters and NAND gates, which have both achieved proper logic operation at supply voltages below 1 V. In particular, the CMOS inverters could operate with VDD down to 0.3V with associated peak power consumption of 0.06 μW, showing full rail-to-rail output swings with voltage gains up to 22, trip voltages of ∼VDD/2, and maximum noise margin of 0.42 V at VDD = 1.1 V (∼76.4% of VDD/2). Furthermore, the static characteristics of CMOS inverters could be maintained for 3 months with negligible changes, proving the feasibility of this long-term air-stable n-doping method.

Myeloid differentiation primary response gene 88 (MyD88), an adaptor protein in the TLRs signaling pathway, is expressed in various liver cells including hepatocytes, Kupffer cells and hepatic stellate cells (HSCs). However, the specific role of MyD88 in HSCs in alcoholic fatty liver (AFL) has not been well investigated. Here, to study the role of MyD88 in HSCs in the development of AFL and its related molecular mechanism, chronic-binge ethanol mice models were established in mice with specific MyD88 knockout in quiescent (MyD88GFAP−KO) and activated HSCs (MyD88SMA−KO), respectively. The results showed that the expression of MyD88 in HSCs was significantly increased in ethanol-induced liver tissues of wild-type mice. MyD88 deficiency in quiescent HSCs inhibited inflammation and lipogenesis, but in activated HSCs it only inhibited inflammation under the ethanol feeding condition. Further mechanism studies found that MyD88 promoted the osteopontin (OPN) secretion of HSCs, which further activated the AKT signaling pathway of hepatocytes and upregulated lipogenic gene expression to promote fat accumulation. In addition, OPN also promotes inflammation by activating p-STAT1. Thus, MyD88 may represent a potential candidate target for the prevention and targeted therapy in AFL, and MyD88 inhibitor can be also applied in inhibiting adipogenesis.

A novel modulation strategy for improving the voltage gain of a dual-active-bridge converter is proposed herein. Under the strategy, the converter performs a high-voltage gain under a low transformer turns ratio, thereby improving the transmission efficiency of the transformer because the large turns ratio typically results in large parasitic parameters, such as leakage inductance or distributed capacitance. In addition, voltage spikes can be avoided as the energy caused by leakage inductance is recycled to the output side. The operating principle of the proposed modulation strategy is discussed in detail herein. Moreover, the zero-voltage switching conditions in both buck and boost modes are analysed and derived. Finally, a prototype with a 350 V high voltage, 48 V low voltage, and 1 kW output power is established, and the conversion efficiencies of 94.2% in buck mode and 93.2% in boost mode are obtained. Experimental results verify the validity of the proposed modulation strategy.

Septic cardiomyopathy (SC) is a rare and harmful cardiovascular disease with decreased left ventricular (LV) output and multiple organ failure, which poses a serious threat to human life. Despite t...

We numerically investigate the second-order nonlinear Hall transport properties of a four-terminal system with time-reversal symmetry and broken inversion symmetry. Within the nonequilibrium Green's function formalism, the second-order nonlinear conductances are derived, where the internal Coulomb potential in response to external voltages is explicitly included to guarantee the gauge invariance. For the system with single mirror symmetry Mx, nonlinear Hall properties are only observable in the y direction and contributed solely from the second-order nonlinear effect. From the symmetry point of view, the observed nonlinear Hall transport phenomena have one-to-one correspondence with the Berry curvature dipole induced nonlinear Hall effect semiclassically obtained for the same Hamiltonian. In addition to the nonlinear Hall effect originated from symmetries of the system, it is found that the internal Coulomb potential has the same symmetry of the four-terminal system, which gives rise to an extra nonlinear Hall response. Moreover, the phase relaxation mechanism modeled by virtual probes leads to the dephasing-induced nonlinear Hall effect.

Optical downconversion is a key resource for generating nonclassical states. Very recently, direct nondegenerate triple-photon spontaneous downconversion (NTPSD) with bright photon triplets and strong third-order correlations has been demonstrated in a superconducting device (2020 Phys. Rev. X 10 011011). Besides, linear and nonlinear tripartite entanglement in this process have also been predicted (2018 Phys. Rev. Lett. 120 043601; 2020 Phys. Rev. Lett. 125 020502). In this paper, we consider the generation of nonclassical optical quantum superpositions and investigate nonlinear quantum steering effects in NTPSD. We find that large-size Schrödinger cat states of one downconverted mode can be achieved when the other two modes are subjected to homodyne detection. Also, a two-photon Bell entangled state can be generated when only one mode is homodyned. We further reveal that such ability of remote state steering originates from nonlinear quantum steerable correlations among the triplets. This is specifically embodied by the seeming violation of the Heisenberg uncertainty relation for the inferred variances of two noncommutating higher-order quadratures of downconverted modes, based on the outcomes of homodyne detection on the other mode, i.e., nonlinear quantum steering, compared to original Einstein–Podolsky–Rosen steering. Our results demonstrate non-Gaussian nonclassical features in NTPSD and would be useful for the fundamental tests of quantum physics and implementations of optical quantum technologies.

Photovoltaic high voltage DC converters are difficult to match suitable power devices due to their high output voltage. In order to reduce the voltage stress of the power device, this paper adopts a Boost-based full-bridge boost isolation topology input parallel output series(BFBIC-IPOS) structure, and apply it to high-power, high-ratio photovoltaic high-voltage DC grid-connected converter. However, when the multi-module series, the phase and frequency of the PWM wave of each module have deviations due to the mismatch of the crystal oscillator frequency of the controller, causing a large output current ripple. In this paper, an interleaving control strategy is proposed to balance output voltage and suppress the output current ripple. Finally, according to the simulation results and experimental verification, we can obtain that the interleaved control can effectively reduce the output current ripple, and the ripple coefficient meets the requirements of high-power, high-transformation ratio HVDC converters.

Development of large-area, low-cost, low-voltage, low-power consumption, flexible high-performance printed carbon nanotube thin-film transistors (TFTs) is helpful to promote their future applications in sensors and biosensors, wearable electronics, and the Internet of things. In this work, low-voltage, flexible printed carbon nanotube TFTs with a large-area and low-cost fabrication process were successfully constructed using ultrathin (∼3.6 nm) AlO