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N–C codoped Fe nanoparticles were used as a dual enzyme mimetic nanozyme. Colorimetric sensing platforms of antibiotics are important for environmental analysis. The superparamagnetism of Fe–N–C was conducive to its recycling and reuse.

Summary In this paper, a meshless numerical modeling method named mesh-free discrete fracture model (MFDFM) of fractured reservoirs based on the newly developed extended finite volume method (EFVM) is proposed. First, matching and nonmatching point cloud generation algorithms are developed to discretize the reservoir domain with fracture networks, which avoid the gridding challenges of the reservoir domain in traditional mesh-based methods. Then, taking oil/water two-phase flow in fractured reservoirs as an example, MFDFM derives the EFVM discrete scheme of the governing equations, constructs various types of connections between matrix nodes and fracture nodes, and calculates the corresponding transmissibilities. Finally, the EFVM discrete scheme of the governing equations and the generalized finite difference discrete scheme of various boundary conditions form the global nonlinear equations, which do not increase the degree of nonlinearity compared with those in the traditional finite volume method (FVM)-based numerical simulator. The global equations can be solved by the existing nonlinear solver in the FVM-based reservoir numerical simulator by only adding the linear discrete equations of boundary conditions, which reduce the difficulty of forming a general purpose MFDFM-based fractured reservoir numerical simulator. Several numerical test cases are implemented to illustrate that the proposed MFDFM can achieve good computational performance under matching and nonmatching point clouds, and for heterogeneous reservoirs, complex fracture networks, complex boundary geometry, and complex boundary conditions, by comparing the computational results of MFDFM with embedded discrete fracture model (EDFM). Thus, MFDFM retains the computational performances of the traditional mesh-based methods and can avoid the difficulties of handling complex geometry and complex boundary conditions of the computational domain, which is the first meshless numerical framework to model fractured reservoirs in parallel with the mesh-based discrete fracture model (DFM) and EDFM.

With the rapid development of economy and culture, people's home decoration not only stays practical, but also emphasizes aesthetics, creativity and environmental protection, and the home improvement industry has ushered in rapid development. The traditional decoration industry also has obvious drawbacks such as long construction period, opaque price, and unnecessary construction. With the introduction of supply-side reforms, the home improvement industry also urgently needs to improve efficiency, thereby reducing the home improvement burden that modern residents are increasingly concerned about. In response to this problem, the "i-Home Yunju" smart APP was first developed. By exploring the relevant functions of the APP and carrying out innovative design, at the same time, the feasibility of AR and VR technology was analyzed to explore the importance of virtual reality technology to smart home decoration.

Canadian multicultural and Indigenous picturebooks greatly influence both children’s and educators’ being and becoming. Identity is closely related to our engagement with literacy practices, including book reading. In this paper, two researchers who immigrated from Mainland China engage in autobiographical narrative inquiry, a methodology that asks the researchers to self-face, and to “world”-travel to our earlier landscapes, times, places, experiences, and relationships. In personal, educational, and academic settings, we tell and retell our storied experiences of critically reading four multicultural and Indigenous Canadian picturebooks, to fight the hegemony of the Canadian dominant culture. Our article sheds light on the importance of negotiating one’s identity in multicultural and Indigenous picturebooks, as little work presents minority educators’ and adult newcomers’ voices of reading diverse Canadian picturebooks. By making visible our critical reading experiences, this inquiry opens space to maximize the outcomes of utilizing children’s literature in teaching and learning.

A raindrop solar cell can work either on rainy days to collect mechanical energy of the raindrops or on sunny days to harvest solar energy, which achieves high energy conversion efficiency in various energy environments. However, the low efficiency of raindrop energy harvesting is a dominating barrier to the raindrop solar cells in practical applications. In this work, a MoO

As the basic and essential unit of neuromorphic computing systems, artificial synaptic devices have great potential to accelerate high-performance parallel computation, artificial intelligence, and adaptive learning. Among the proposed artificial synaptic devices, the synaptic transistors are well considered to be one of the most suitable devices for simulating artificial intelligence. So far, synaptic transistors based on iontronic have been proposed and proved to demonstrate great potential in artificial intelligence applications. However, little research specifically focused on improving the device's ability to mimic synaptic behaviour. Here, we proposed the enhancement of synaptic properties of the solution-based thin-film transistors based on potassium ion conduction in the dielectric layer for the first time. Due to the formation of a gated electrical double-layer, the transistor exhibited an enlarged memory window. Based on this, the excitatory postsynaptic current in the synaptic thin-film transistor was modified accordingly, which further enhanced the suitability of the proposed synaptic thin-film transistor for simulating biological synapses. In addition, considerable synaptic properties were evaluated elaborately, including paired-pulse facilitation, short-term memory, long-term memory, and spike-time-dependent-plasticity. Most importantly, according to the impressive results of the Artificial Neural Network algorithm's image recognition simulation, the simulation image recognition rate based on the mentioned artificial synaptic devices reached as high as 92%. Last but not least, in order to simulate biological neurobehavior more closely, the Spiking Neural Network algorithm was also successfully implemented to complete the specified machine learning task, which further proved the great potential of the synaptic devices in advanced low-power neural network systems.

Background To evaluate the root canal preparation outcomes achieved by five nickel-titanium single-file instrumentation systems (M3-L, Reciproc Blue, V-Taper 2H, WaveOne Gold, XP-endo Shaper) in severely curved molar root canals. Methods A total of 60 root canals were selected from extracted human molar teeth with curvatures ranging from 25° to 50° and divided into five groups based on the instrumentation system employed (n = 12). Before and after root canal preparation, a Micro-CT scan was taken, and pre- and post-operative data were analyzed to evaluate the following parameters: volume increment of root canals (VI), untouched root canal areas (UTA), and canal transportation (CT). Apically extruded debris (AD) was collected during preparation. After that, all samples were separated into two parts and examined respectively by scanning electron microscope (SEM) to assess cleaning ability. Data were statistically analyzed with ANOVA (UTA, AD, VI) or Kruskal-Wallis test (CT, SEM-score), the level of significance was set at α = 0.05. Results There were no significant differences between the five systems regarding the AD, VI, and UTA parameters (P > 0.05). In terms of CT, no significant difference was noted at the straight section of canal and apical levels, while XP-endo Shaper showed less canal transportation than M3-L at the level of curved vertex (P P P P P

Levels of extracellular histones are highly increased in sepsis and may facilitate microcirculatory dysfunction. Unfractionated heparin (UFH) binds histones and neutralizes their cytotoxicity. We investigated the effect of UFH on microcirculatory dysfunction by interacting with extracellular histones in endotoxemic rats.Twenty-four Wistar rats were randomly divided into three groups: control, lipopolysaccharide (LPS) group, and LPS + UFH group. In the LPS and LPS + UFH groups, 10 mg/kg LPS was injected to induce endotoxemia, and 100 IU/kg/h UFH was administered intravenously in the LPS + UFH group. The rats underwent midline laparotomy, and then intestinal microcirculation was evaluated using an incident dark field microscope. Circulating histones and microstructures of the rat intestinal microvascular endothelium were also detected. Additionally, the antagonistic effect of UFH on histone-induced cytotoxicity was investigated in human intestinal microvascular endothelial cells.UFH protected the microcirculation of the intestinal serosa and mucosa in endotoxemic rats, as evidenced by increased total vessel density, perfused vessel density, and proportion of perfused vessels of both the serosa and mucosa, and increased microcirculatory flow index of the mucosa in the LPS + UFH group. UFH treatment decreased the levels of circulating histones and alleviated intestinal microvascular endothelial injuries in endotoxemic rats. Furthermore, UFH inhibited histone cytotoxicity in vitro.UFH attenuated microcirculatory dysfunction in endotoxemic rats by antagonizing extracellular histones, thereby providing a potential therapeutic strategy for sepsis.

The spatial layout of urban villages seriously affects the living environment and integrated development of urban and rural areas. Using digital means to assist in the reconstruction of urban villages is necessary and urgent. This study built an urban renewal framework for intelligent building planning with a proposed multi-party collaborative pattern. First, villagers’ needs, and relevant standards and regulations were merged into planning requirements, which were formulated into planning goals and criteria. With the quantitative goals and criteria, building planning and design algorithms were developed. Furthermore, the method was verified to achieve an intelligent layout of buildings. Finally, under certain conditions, the average difference between the plot ratio calculated by the program and the actual plot ratio was 0.02, and that between the building intensity calculated by the program and the actual building intensity was 0.02. Within 11.43 hectares, 500 buildings were generated with a total floor area of 27.72 hectares, and the average time taken for scheme generation was 10 s. This method can efficiently generate a plan similar to the actual floor area ratio and building density and optimize the problem of insufficient spacing. Moreover, adjusting the parameters can automatically generate a variety of schemes that can support the layout design of rural buildings.

As accurate step counting is a critical indicator for exercise evaluation in daily life, pedometers give a quantitative prediction of steps and analyze the amount of exercise to regulate the exercise plan. However, the merchandized pedometers still suffer from limited battery life and low accuracy. In this work, an integrated self-powered real-time pedometer system has been demonstrated. The highly integrated system contains a porous triboelectric nanogenerator (P-TENG), a data acquisition and processing (DAQP) module, and a mobile phone APP. The P-TENG works as a pressure sensor that generates electrical signals synchronized with users' footsteps, and combining it with the analogue front-end (AFE) circuit yields an ultrafast response time of 8 ms. Moreover, the combination of a mini press-to-spin-type electromagnetic generator (EMG) and a supercapacitor enables a self-powered and self-sustained operation of the entire pedometer system. This work implements the regulation of TENG signals by electronic circuit design and proposes a highly integrated system. The improved reliability and practicality provide more possibilities for wearable self-powered electronic devices.

Al/TE (top electrode)/AlOx/Pt RRAM (resistive random access memory) devices with solution-processed spin-coated AlOx layers annealed at various temperatures (225/250/275 °C) exhibited typical bipolar resistive switching performance with low SET/RESET voltage ( 103) and excellent stability (retention time over 104 s and endurance cycles more than 100). Ni and TiN were chosen as the TE, respectively. Better RS characteristics were obtained on Ni/AlOx/Pt RRAM devices with lower operating voltage and better stability. In addition, the voltage variation between Ni/AlOx/Pt and TiN/AlOx/Pt RRAM devices was investigated. Compared with Ni/AlOx/Pt RRAM devices, TiN/AlOx/Pt devices operated with higher operation voltage at various annealing temperatures, which indicated the influence of work function difference (△ΦM) between TE and BE (bottom electrode). The greater the △ΦM, the more energy consumption and the higher operation voltage were demanded.

Contemporary childhood exists in a rapidly changing literacy context in the digital age, where digital devices and technology are progressively used at home (OECD 2019). In the global context, digital technology is greatly emerging in children’s lives, including the way of their play, learning, communicating and entertainment (Marsh et al. 2016). In this paper presentation, the author who is a researcher in the intersection of digital literacy and children’s literature, engages in autobiographical narrative inquiry (Clandinin and Connelly 2000), where she tells and retells her stories of reading contemporary fiction picture books, focusing on digital practices in both written text and illustrations. Such experiences are reflected and compared to her experiences of reading contemporary academic articles and reports on digital literacy studies in early childhood education. She noticed that there is a significant missing of digital lives and practices in contemporary fiction picture books, which contrasts with the prevalence of children’s digital usage in the contemporary post-typographic era. As children’s fiction is infused with ideology, the text instills values and beliefs in young readers, which, further, will shape children’s sociocultural development (Stephens 1992). For this reason, it is critical for future research to examine the ideological message and cultural discourse in relation to digital literacy practices in children’s fiction work. Because the gaps and differences between the ideologies of digital usage in children’s literature and children’s digital literacy practices reality could cause confusion to our young readers. This article highlights the silence of digital lives and practices in today’s fiction picture books and this research urges writers, illustrators, educators, and parents to pay attention to the gaps between digital practices in today’s children’s real lives and the contemporary fiction picture books.

The 14th Annual Graduate Student Showcase was held by the Department of Secondary and Elementary Education on April 30, 2022. The COVID-19 pandemic has continued to impact the way in which we gather and share our research. This year, we continued to meet in a hybrid synchronous/asynchronous space with our keynote speakers, presenters, and attendees. This format allowed for graduate students from around the world to share and participate. This year, our showcase theme, Exploring Horizons, speaks to looking forward, keeping our heads up, and navigating what lies beyond. Despite numerous challenges to this academic year, as a graduate student community, this research showcase demonstrated that graduate student research in education is attuned to the possibilities that might lie on or on the other side of the horizons. Exploring Horizons also represents an invitation to think and rethink differently and creatively. Currently, the field of education is in the midst of dealing with some serious challenges. Yet, when we simply glance at this showcase special issue, it is easy to see that our graduate students in education are rising to the occasion and exploring the horizons of educational research, ready to take on these challenges and to open new possibilities for imagining the future(s) of curriculum, pedagogy, teacher education, and educational philosophy and thought. This year’s theme of Exploring Horizons asks participants and attendees to visualize and imagine the unknown and all that becomes possible by thinking, creating, and imagining new ways of knowing and understanding. To all of our authors in this special issue, we want to thank you for putting your important work out into the world and for sharing it with others. Additionally, this special issue Exploring Horizons celebrates the diversity of our graduate student research in education. Beyond presentations from graduate students, we featured Dr. Cathryn van Kessel, a keynote speaker in the morning session and an associate professor for the Department of Secondary Education, as she shared her experiences with “Exploring Horizons” in knowledge dissemination and research mobilization. Dr. Jacqueline Filipek, an alumna of the Department of Elementary Education and assistant professor at The King’s University, shared valuable insights about the process for applying and interviewing for academic jobs in the afternoon session. She offered generous advice on how graduate students might prepare their application packages and think about potential interview processes in academia. On behalf of the EEGSA/SEGSA Graduate Student Research Showcase Committee, Katherine Koskie, Kimberly Edmondson, and Yina Liu, we wish to thank you for reading this special issue as you explore new horizons together with our authors. We hope you find your reading thought-provoking as you consider what is on the horizon of educational research.