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CdSe nanoplatelets (NPLs) with an atomic thickness have gotten vast attention due to their potential applications as well as interesting physical and chemical properties. It is known that CdSe NPLs...

International audience; Following brain damage, the patient PS suffers from selective impairment in recognizing individuals by their faces, i.e., prosopagnosia. Her case has been documented in more than 30 publications to date, informing about the nature of individual face recognition and its neural basis. Here we report new functional neuroimaging data obtained on PS with a recently developed fast periodic stimulation functional imaging (FPS-fMRI) paradigm combining high sensitivity, specificity and reliability in identifying the cortical face-selective network (Gao et al., 2018). We define the extent of the large and reliable face-selective activation in the lateral section of the right middle fusiform gyrus, i.e., right FFA, which forms a single cluster of activation lying at the anterior border of the patient's main lesion in the inferior occipital gyrus. The contribution of posterior face-selective responses in the right or left inferior occipital gyrus is ruled out, strongly supporting the view that face-selective activity emerges in the right middle fusiform gyrus of the patient's brain from non-face-selective inputs from early visual areas. Despite this, low-level visual cues, i.e., amplitude spectrum of images, do not contribute to neural face-selective responses anywhere in the patient's cortical face network. This sensitive face-localizer approach also reveals an intact face-selective network anterior to the fusiform gyrus, including clusters in the ventral anterior temporal lobe (occipito-temporal sulcus and temporal pole) and the inferior frontal gyrus, with a right hemispheric dominance. Overall, with the exception of the left inferior occipital gyrus, the cortical face network of the prosopagnosic patient PS appears remarkably similar to typical individuals in non-brain damaged regions. However, unlike in neurotypical adults tested in the present study, including age-matched controls, a novel paradigm based on FPS-FMRI confirms that the patient's face network is insensitive to differences between rapidly presented pictures of unfamiliar individual faces, in line with her prosopagnosia.

Objective: The present study aimed to investigate the effects of Mesenchymal stem cells/glial cell line derived neurotrophic factor (MSCs/GDNF) transplantation on nerve reconstruction in rats with intracerebral hemorrhage. Methods: GDNF transduction to MSCs was using adenovirus vector pAdEasy-1-pAdTrack-CMV prepared. Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) was induced by injection of collagenase and heparin into the caudate putamen. At the third day after a collagenase-induced ICH, adult male SD rats were randomly divided into saline group, MSCs group and MSCs/GDNF group. Immunofluorescence and RT-PCR were performed to detect the differentiation of MSCs or MSCs with an adenovirus vector encoding GDNF gene in vivo and in vitro. Result: After 6 hours of induction, both MSCs and MSCs/GDNF expressed neuro or glial specific markers and synaptic-associated proteins (SYN, GAP-43, PSD-95); additionally, they secreted bioactive compounds (BDNF, NGF-β). MSCs/GDNF transplantation, compared to MSCs and saline solution injection, significantly improved neurological functions after ICH. The grafted MSCs or MSCs/GDNF survived in the striatum after 2 weeks of transplantation and expressed the neural cell-specific biomarkers NSE, MAP2, and GFAP. Conclusion: These findings demonstrate that MSCs/GDNF transplantation contributes to improved neurological function in experimental ICH rats. The mechanisms are possibly due to neuronal replacement and enhanced neurotrophic factor secretion.

Chiral colloidal semiconductor nanocrystals (NCs) are an emerging type of chiral materials. These chiral NCs exhibit unique quantum confinement-determined optical activity and have aroused much interest in the multidisciplinary fields of chemistry, physics and biology. Herein, the state-of-the-art progresses of their rational synthesis, fundamental understanding and potential application are summarized. In addition, a personal view about the future development of chiral semiconductor NCs is offered.

Inorganic single crystals with anisotropic structures usually suffer from high brittleness and stiffness. Flexible polymers are used to replace inorganic crystals, but the hot-stretching-induced orientation process is tedious, and oriented molecular chains tend to revert to random coils during aging. To overcome these obstacles and using the similarities between sub-1 nm nanowires (NWs) and linear polymers, we successfully fabricated anisotropic, transparent, flexible, and stable (ATFS) NW films with great potential for optical applications through a wet-spinning method. The NW films show birefringence, and their birefractive index is higher than that of many polymers. They also showed polarized absorption of UV light and anisotropic scattering of visible light. The integrated films composed of NWs and quantum dots showed good fluorescence polarization. The tedious synthesis of quantum rods and fabrication of oriented polymer films can thus be avoided.

Neuroplastin 65 (Np65) is a brain-specific cell adhesion molecule that is highly expressed in the hippocampus, amygdala, and cortex, regions of the brain that are associated with memory and emotions. However, the role of Np65 in regulation of emotional behavior is still unclear. In the present study, we show that Np65 knock-out (Np65 KO) mice display enhanced anxiety-like behavior, a reduction in some aspects of depressive-like behaviors, and increased sociability and memory. Biochemical investigations revealed that Np65 KO mice show increased adult-born neurons and proliferation in the hippocampus. In addition, the level of 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) in the hippocampus was reduced. The expression of tryptophan hydroxylase 2 in the brainstem and the expression of the 5-HT3A receptor were also decreased. Electrophysiological recordings confirmed an impaired maintenance of long-term potentiation in the hippocampus of Np65 KO mice. Together, our findings uncover a role for Np65 in regulating anxiety- and depressive-like behaviors and suggest that Np65 may be essential for the maintenance of emotional stability, indicating that it might be an attractive potential target for treatment of psychiatric disorders.

Understanding the folding mechanism of knotted and slipknotted proteins has attracted considerable interest. Due to their topological complexity, knotted and slipknotted proteins are predicted to fold slowly and involve large topological barriers. Molecular dynamics simulation studies suggest that a slipknotted conformation can serve as an important intermediate to help greatly reduce the topological difficulty during the folding of some knotted proteins. Here we use a single molecule optical tweezers technique to directly probe the folding of a small slipknotted protein AFV3-109. We found that stretching AFV3-109 can lead to the untying of the slipknot and complete unfolding of AFV3-109. Upon relaxation, AFV3-109 can readily refold back to its native slipknot conformation with high fidelity when the stretching force is lower than 6 pN. The refolding of AFV3-109 occurs in a sharp two-state like transition. Our results indicate that, different from knotted proteins, the folding of a slipknotted protein like AFV3-109 can be fast, and may not necessarily involve a high topological barrier.

The evolution of electronic states of nanocrystals under shape variation is hardly detected by conventional optical and electronic instruments due to the condensed electronic levels of nanocrystals. Herein, we demonstrate that magnetic circular dichroism (MCD) spectroscopy is a high-resolution method to monitor this delicate progress on account of the sensitive Zeeman response to electronic states. In particular, the MCD intensity of the first excitonic transition exponentially decreases with the shape changing from quantum dots to quantum rods owing to the increased density of valence pz state with elongation in the z direction, which contributes much less to MCD intensity compared with p±. This work provides a simple but effective strategy for understanding the electronic state evolution in various semiconductor nanomaterials.

In the field of arc fault detection, it is universally acknowledged that it is very hard to judge whether there is an arc fault through signals of the main line when a masking load (such as air compressors, lamps with dimmers, and so on) is in parallel with a resistive load, which always tends to be a fire hazard. Meanwhile, it is annoying that the normal currents of some appliances are very similar to the arcing ones. In this paper, we have found the principles of a novel detection method called high-frequency coupling, putting the neutral line (N) and the live line (L) through the current transformer (CT), which results in asymmetrical distribution of magnetic flux in the core and the only high-frequency components left in the secondary output of the CT. So it is possible for series arc fault detectors to be free from the masking loads and distinguish between the arcing and the nonarcing clearly. Thanks to this convenient method, an arc fault detector based on the microcontroller unit (MCU) has been proposed to detect arc faults effectively by means of simple multi-indicators. The experimental results show the accuracy of arc fault recognition, in all the masking tests, can reach a high level and the detector can detect an arc fault within a short time.

The mild depolymerization of lignin into aromatic monomer is a grand challenge owing to the various aryl ether C–O bonds, particularly for the most abundant β-O-4, α-O-4 and 4-O-5 linkages. Rod-shaped CeO2 supported AuPd bimetallic catalysts fabricated by sol-immobilization method presented robust alloy structure, as evidenced by TEM, XPS, UV–vis, and CO-DRIFTS. For the hydrogenolysis of C O bond model compound with formic acid, Au1Pd1/CeO2 showed about 23.5 and 6 folds increase in activity compared with its monometallic counterparts Au/CeO2 and Pd/CeO2, respectively. The outstanding performance was mainly ascribed to the increased adsorption ability of electron-deficient Pd for aromatic C–O bond. Additionally, formic acid-mediated Au1Pd1/CeO2 has efficiently performed hydrogenolysis of real lignin into a variety of valuable monophenols, achieving 44.1% yield at low temperature.

In this paper, abundant lump solutions and two types of interaction solutions of the (3+1)-D Kadomtsev-Petviashvili equation are obtained by the Hirota bilinear method. Some contour plots with different determinant values are sequentially given to show that the corresponding lump solution tends to zero when the deter-minant approaches to zero. The interaction solutions with special parameters are plotted to elucidate the solution properties.

The aim of this study is to identify the best practices and future research directions for driver lane-change intention (DLCI) prediction using eye-tracking technologies based on a systematic literature review. We searched five academic literature databases and then conducted an in-depth review, structured coding, and analysis of 40 relevant articles. The literature on DLCI prediction is summarized in terms of input features, feature extraction and prediction time windows, labeling methods, and machine learning algorithms. The results show that eye tracking data features along with other data sources can be useful inputs for the prediction of DLCI. Major challenges in this line of research include determining the optimal time window for feature extraction and developing and evaluating the appropriate machine learning algorithm. Suggestions for future research and practice for DLCI prediction in intelligent vehicles are discussed.

Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) technique has enlarged the application of Raman spectroscopy, and the most crucial problem is the exploration of SERS-active materials. In the paper, a SERS substrate made of helical gold nanoparticles by the directed synthesis of L-glutathione (L-GSH) was proposed. Because of the large surface specific area and the uneven conduction electrons distribution for sharp tips resulted from the complex concave surface and the symmetry breaking structure, The nanostructure has shown an impressive average enhancement factor (EF) of 2.95 × 10

Colloidal cadmium chalcogenide nanoplates are two-dimensional semiconductors that have shown great application prospect for light-emitting technologies. Self-trapped state (STS), a special localized state originated from strong electron-phonon coupling (EPC), has great potential in one-step white light luminance owing to its broadband emission linewidth. However, achieving STS in cadmium chalcogenide nanocrystals is extremely challenging due to their intrinic weak EPC nature. By building hybrid superlattice (SL) structures via self-assembly of colloidal CdSe nanoplates (NPLs), we demonstrated an emergence of zone-folded longnitude acoustic phonons (ZFLAP) differ from monodispersed NPLs, and observed a broadband STS emission in spectra range of 450-600 nm. Through femtosecond transient absorption and impulsive vibrational spectroscopy, we revealed that STS is generated in time scale of ~500 fs and is driven by strong coupling of excitons and ZFLAPs with Huang-Rhys parameter as large as ~22.7. Our findings provide a new avenue for generating and manipulating STS emission by artificially designing and building hybrid periodic structures superior to single material optimization., 25 pages, 4 figures

Background Previous studies have showed the beneficial effects of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) on experimental intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) animal. Enhancement of the treatment efficacy of MSCs in ICH is essential, considering the diseases association with high rates of disability and mortality. Some auxiliary methods to enhance the beneficial efficacy of MSCs have been introduced. However, the effect of electroacupuncture (EA) on the therapeutic efficacy of MSCs transplantation in hemorrhagic stroke and its potential mechanism is not explored. Methods ICH rat models were established using collagenase and heparin. 48 h after ICH induction, the rats were randomly divided into model control (MC), MSCs transplantation (MSCs), EA stimulation (EA) and MSCs transplantation combined with EA stimulation (MSCs + EA) groups. We used mNSS test and gait analysis to assess neurological function of rats, and PET/CT to evaluate the volume of hemorrhage focus and level of glucose uptake. The concentrations of MDA, SOD, NSE, S100B and MBP in serum or plasma were examined with ELISA. Neural differentiation of MSCs, and the expressions of Bcl-2, Bax, Arg-1 and iNOS proteins around hematoma were detected by immunofluorescence and immunohistochemistry staining respectively. Western blot was carried out to analyze the expression levels of COX4, OGDH, PDH-E1α, Bcl-2 and Bax proteins. TUNEL staining was used to estimate cell apoptosis and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) was used to observe the ultrastructure and number of mitochondria. Results Our data showed that EA promoted neuron-like differentiation of transplanted MSCs and the expressions of BDNF and NGF proteins in ICH rats. The score of mNSS and the gait analysis showed that the recovery of the neurological function in the MSCs + EA group was better than that in the MSCs and EA groups. EA improved the structures of brain tissue, and alleviated brain injury further after MSCs transplantation in ICH rats. When compared with the MSCs and EA groups, the level of glucose uptake and numbers of mitochondria and Arg-1 positive cells in MSCs + EA group increased significantly, but the numbers of apoptotic cells and iNOS positive cells and volume of hemorrhage focus reduced. The expressional levels of COX4, OGDH, PDH-E1α and Bcl-2 proteins increased, while the expressional levels of Bax protein decreased compared with those in the MSCs and EA groups. Conclusion Our results reveal that EA improve therapeutic efficacy of MSCs transplantation in ICH rats.

This study selected the two adjacent eddy covariance observational towers at the FPV in Yangzhong, Jiangsu Province of China to explore the issue. The results indicated that the percent frequency of east wind lower 4 m·s-1 at 2 m decreased by 25.3% in FPV site compared with the REF site. The FPV array have a heating effect on the ambient. The average air temperature difference in two sites at 2 m and 10 m are 0.3 K and 0.1 K during the heating period. The net radiation increased by 47.8 W·m-2 in two sites. Sensible heat is increased by 7.9 W·m-2 due to the heating effect. Latent heat in the two sites are contrary to the sensible heat (-13.0 W·m-2). The difference of the water storage heat is 32.18 W·m-2, which implies the water absorbs higher heat in the FPV site than the REF site. This work illustrated the importance of observational experiments to animate process-based understanding combined with FPV systems. It further provides the scientific basis to establish the FPV energy balance models based on the observation that may be used to reveal the impact of utility-scale FPV deployment on climatic effects.

We used the data of observational site in photovoltaic power plant (PV site) and reference site in summer 2020 to compare the characteristics of surface energy flux of PV site and Gobi underlying surface. We defined the photovoltaic virtual flux and calculated the proportion of photovoltaic power generation in the net radiation by using daily power generation and generating hours. The results show that the net radiation of PV site was larger than that of reference site throughout the day. Compared with the reference site, the sensible heat flux and latent heat flux of PV site increased by 6% and 53.5%, respectively. Sensible heat flux, soil heat flux, latent heat flux and photovoltaic virtual flux accounted for 43.2%, 14.5%, 8.6% and 6.1% of the net radiation, respectively. The sensible heat accounted for the largest proportion, the energy balance closure increased from 0.6 to 0.67 in the daytime.

The local climate effects of utility-scale photovoltaic (PV) plants have also attracted more and more attention with the rapid development of PV industry. Turbulent fluxes and intensity characteristics for the PV plant and the adjacent reference site are investigated in the gobi area in Wujianqu in Xinjiang. Results indicate that near surface boundary layer is more unstable during the daytime while is more stable at the night in the PV plant than the reference site. The average roughness is 0.089m and 0.041m for the PV plant and the reference site respectively. The turbulence intensity in the vertical direction (I_w) of the PV plant is higher than the reference site especially during the daytime. The turbulent kinetic energy of the PV plant during the daytime is lower than the reference site.The momentum in the PV plant is higher than the reference site, especially during the daytime. Compared to the reference site, the PV plant has higher sensible heat flux and less latent heat flux. Site specific turbulent intensity relationships were developed for the PV plant and the reference site by analyzing wind components as a function of stability parameter (z/L). The turbulent components of wind followed 1/3 power law in the unstable conditions and stable conditions in the PV plant and the reference site.

Chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome type III is related to irritative voiding, sexual dysfunction, and pelvic pain. Chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome weakens the quality of life and poses adverse psychological effects on the patients. A wide range of treatments, including botulinum neurotoxins, anti-inflammatories, alpha-blockers, phytotherapy, 5α-reductase inhibitors, phosphodiesterase type 4 inhibitor, phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitor, monoclonal antibody, anticholinergics, gabapentin, pregabalin is used clinically. These therapies emphasize easing the symptoms in specific areas without curing the fundamental cause where the outcome of the treatment is not completely satisfactory. This review article explains the recent pharmacological treatments of chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome in detail and offers a future perspective to treat this condition.

Qinghai Lake is the largest lake in China. However, its influence on the local climate remains poorly understood. By using an atmosphere-lake coupled model, we investigated the impact of the lake on the local climate. After the adjustment of four key parameters, the model reasonably reproduced the lake-air interaction. Superimposed by the orographic effects on lake-land breeze circulation, the presence of the lake enhanced precipitation over the southern part of the lake and its adjacent land, while slightly reduced precipitation along the northern shore of the lake. The lake effect on local precipitation revealed a distinct seasonal and diurnal variability, reducing precipitation in May (-6.6%) and June (-4.5%) and increasing it from July (5.7%) to November (125.6%). During the open water season, the lake's daytime cooling effect weakened and the nighttime warming effect strengthened, affecting spatial distribution and intensity of lake-induced precipitation. In early summer, precipitation slightly decreased over the north part of the lake due to the lake's daytime cooling. In turn, lake-induced nighttime warming increased precipitation over the southern section of the lake and its adjacent land. With the start of the autumn cooling in September, heat and moisture fluxes from the lake resulted in precipitation increase in both daytime and nighttime over the entire lake. In October, the background atmospheric circulation coupled with the strong lake effects lead to a small amount but high proportion of lake-induced precipitation spreading evenly over the lake.

Fish-lighting complementary photovoltaic power station organically combines aquaculture and renewable energy. In this study we aimed to develop a solar photovoltaic that is not confined to land. We used a shade net to simulate photovoltaic panels, and studied the effects of different proportions of photovoltaic panels on water and fish. The results showed that the average light intensity of the unshaded area and the shaded area were 16,661.7 Lux and 2437.0 Lux. The average light intensity of the shaded area was 85.4% lower than that of the unshaded area. The effective range of the shaded area for the light intensity of the water layer was 0 cm~30 cm. The temperature and pH in the water body showed a linear decreasing trend with the increase of the photovoltaic deployment ratio, and the dissolved oxygen showed an inverted &ldquo, U&rdquo, shaped change characteristic, but this effect was limited. When the photovoltaic deployment ratio was 25% to 75%, the dissolved oxygen in the water body increases by an average of 2.37% compared to the unshaded area. The appropriate proportion of photovoltaic deployment did not affect the dissolved oxygen content in the water body. When the photovoltaic deployment ratio reached 75%, the number of algae species and algae biomass was the largest, and the fish production was the highest at 8094.6 kg&middot, acre&minus, 1, which is an increase of 166.2 kg&middot, 1 compared to the average yield in unshaded areas. Therefore, photovoltaic layout will not affect the growth of fish, and the proportion of 75% is the best layout choice.

The ability to control small drug release is crucial in biomedicine, especially for inhibiting the side effects of drugs, but it is still challenging. Herein, to mimic the controlled release of drugs, the release of organic molecules, e.g., small organic dyes and peptides, through Covalent Organic Framework (COF) membranes with ordered nanoscale pores has been investigated, showing constant zero-order release behaviours. Meanwhile, biological assessments show the good biocompatibility of the COF membrane-based release system, and the high stability of the COF membrane was manifested by the long-term release of small molecules in aqueous media.

Spin splitting of energy bands can be induced by relativistic spin-orbit interactions in materials without inversion symmetry. Whereas polar space group symmetries permit Rashba (R-1) spin splitting with helical spin textures in momentum space, which could be reversed upon switching a ferroelectric polarization via applied electric fields, the ordinary Dresselhaus effect (D-1A) is ac-tive only in materials exhibiting nonpolar noncentrosymmetric crystal classes with atoms occupy-ing exclusively non-polar lattice sites. Consequently, the spin-momentum locking induced by D-1A is not electric field-switchable. An alternative type of Dresselhaus symmetry, referred to as D-1B, exhibits crystal class constraints similar to D-1A (all dipoles add up to zero), but unlike D-1A, at least one polar site is occupied. We find that this behavior exists in a class of ferri-chiral crys-tals, which in principle could be reversed upon a change in chirality. Focusing on alkali metal chalcogenides, we identify NaCu5S3 in the nonentiamorphic ferri-chiral structure, which exhibits CuS3 chiral units differing in the magnitude of their Cu displacements. We then synthesize NaCu5S3 (space group P6322) and confirm its ferri-chiral structure with power x-ray diffraction. Our electronic structure calculations demonstrate it exhibits D-1B spin splitting as well as a ferri-chiral phase transition, revealing spin splitting interdependent on chirality. Our electronic struc-ture calculations show that a few percent biaxial tensile strain can reduce (or nearly quench) the switching barrier separating the monodomain ferri-chiral P6322 states. We discuss what type of external stimuli might switch the chirality so as to reverse the (non-helical) Dresselhaus D-1B spin texture, offering an alternative to the traditional reversal of the (helical) Rashba spin texture., 27 pages, 12 figures

The anatomic stage groups (ASG) have been arguably the most powerful in predicting breast cancer (BC) outcomes. Recognizing the prognostic influence of histologic grade and receptor status, the 8th AJCC mandates their incorporation into the newly established prognostic stage groups (PSG). This staging scheme was subsequently revised to provide pathological and clinical prognostic stage tables (PPSG/CPSG) due to its incapability to categorize a significant subset of BCs, with the former only used for patients having surgical resection as the initial treatment, and the latter for all patients. Given the increasingly used neoadjuvant therapy, PPSG cannot be assigned in a significant proportion of higher staged BCs. In this study, we validated the CPSG in a cohort of 5321 BCs. Compared to ASG, the application of CPSG resulted in assigning 16.1% and 27.2% of cases to a higher or a lower stage group in non-stage IV BCs, respectively. The changes were seen mostly frequently in ASG IB, followed by IIIC, IIB, IIA, IIIA, IIIB, and IA. In 7.9% of cases, the assigned CPSG changed more than one stage group from the ASG. CPSG provided an improved overall discriminating power in predicting BC-specific survival when compared to ASG. Pairwise comparison using the Cox proportional hazard model demonstrated further advantages for CPSG as the latter showed a significant difference in all categories when compared to their proximate groups, except IIA vs. IB and IIIA vs. IIIB. In contrast, a significantly different hazard was only seen when comparing IIB vs. IIA, IIIA vs. IIB, and IV vs. IIIC for ASG. Thus, the revised 8th AJCC CPSG provided a superior overall staging scheme for predicting prognostic outcomes in BC patients receiving standard of care treatment. Further validation using the available data with larger populations and longer follow-up may be needed to refine and improve this table.

Aggression coincides with emotional underarousal in childhood, but we still lack an understanding of how underarousal contributes to aggression. With an ethnically diverse sample of 8-year-olds (N = 150), we tested whether physiological underarousal and lower fear recognition were indirectly associated with heightened aggression through dampened guilt feelings. Caregivers rated children's aggressive behavior. We assessed children's skin conductance (SC) and respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) while they imagined transgressing norms and measured their fear recognition with a facial morph task. Children reported guilt or lack thereof after hypothetically transgressing. The interaction of decreasing SC and increasing RSA (i.e., physiological underarousal) and poor fear recognition were indirectly associated with higher aggression through their associations with lower guilt. Emotional underarousal may contribute to aggression by disrupting the normative development of guilt. We discuss strategies to improve social-emotional acuity and reduce aggression in children with blunted physiological arousal and fear recognition.

The exciton dynamics from the aspect of acceptor is revealed by the time-resolved differential reflection measurement and the enhanced photoluminescence of heterostructure is achieved by energy transfer and the suppression of exciton-exciton annihilation.

Summary We followed visual development in a rare yet large sample of patients with congenital bilateral cataract for 4 years. We divided the patients into two groups: a complete deprivation group with no response to a flashlight pointing to either of their eyes and otherwise an incomplete deprivation group. All the patients received cataract surgery at age of 3 months. From 27 months onward, the complete deprivation group showed better developmental outcomes in acuity and eyeball growth than the incomplete deprivation group. Such a seemingly counterintuitive finding is consistent with research on visually deprived animals. Plasticity is better preserved in animals receiving a short period of complete visual deprivation from birth than in animals who saw diffuse light. The current finding that plasticity in visual development is better preserved in human infants with complete visual deprivation than in those who can see diffuse light but not patterned visual input has important clinical implications., Graphical Abstract, Highlights • Infants with complete deprivation have developed better acuity than incomplete ones • Plasticity is better preserved in complete deprivation infants than in incomplete ones • Infants with complete deprivation have less myopic shift than incompletes ones • Early noisy input has the detrimental effect on human visual development, Ophthalmology; Human Physiology; Biology of Human Development

The current study investigated the development of second-order lying and its relation to theory of mind and executive function. Previous studies have examined only first-order lying, in which a child makes an untruthful statement to intentionally deceive an unsuspecting opponent. As opposed to first-order lying, second-order lying requires the use of both lies and truths to deceive an opponent because the opponent is fully aware of the liar’s deceptive intention. Here, we used a modified hide-and-seek task, in which children were asked to hide a coin in either one of their hands for opponents to find. In this task, the opponents did not consistently look for the coin in the location indicated by the children. Thus, children could not win the desirable reward if they only told lies to deceive; they needed to switch between telling lies and telling truths (i.e., second-order lies) to deceive opponents. The results showed that children could tell second-order lies by 4 years of age, and their ability to do so was significantly related only to the second-order ignorance scores (early second-order theory of mind understanding). The current findings suggest that second-order ignorance, but not second-order false belief understanding, contributes to children’s second-order lying.

In this paper, with the help of symbolic computation system Mathematica, six kinds of lump solutions and two classes of interaction solutions are discussed to the (3+1)-dimensional generalized Kadomtsev–Petviashvili equation via using generalized bilinear form with a dependent variable transformation. Particularly, one special case are plotted as illustrative examples, and some contour plots with different determinant values are presented. Simultaneously, we studied the trajectory of the interaction solution.

This paper has conducted a contrastive study on the AIRS retrieval results and the observational data of methane concentration at Mt. Waliguan atmospheric background station, and has analyzed the distribution characteristics of atmospheric methane concentration over the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau from 2003 to 2015. The results show that the AIRS retrieval data display the same monthly, annual, and seasonal variation trend, as well as segmental variation characteristics. The methane concentration features high in the north and low in the south along with the geographical line of Kunlun Mountains–Tanggula Mountains–Hengduan Mountains, and decreases significantly as the altitude rises, with the highest and the most sensitive variability in the south central region of the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau. From 2003 to 2015, the methane concentration in the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau continued to rise, with the fastest growth in autumn, the slowest in winter, and an annual growth rate of 5.2 nmol mol−1 a−1, while the growth rate from 2013 to 2015 was lower than the global average. The seasonal variation showed a unimodal curve, with the highest value in summer and the lowest value in spring, and with the altitude rising, the seasonal variation was more significant.

Nanocrystals (NCs) with identical components and sizes but different crystal structures could not be distinguished by conventional absorption and emission spectra. Herein, we find that circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy can easily distinguish the CdSe nanoplatelets (NPLs) with different crystal structures of wurtzite (WZ) and zincblende (ZB) with the help of chiral l- or d-cysteine ligands. In particular, the CD signs of the first excitonic transitions in WZ and ZB NPLs capped by the same chiral cysteine are opposite. Theoretic calculation supports the viewpoint of different crystal structures and surfaces arrangements between WZ and ZB NPLs contributing to this significant phenomenon. The CD peaks appearing at the first excitonic transition band of WZ or ZB CdSe NPLs are clearly assigned to the different transition polarizations along 4p( x,y,z),Se → 5sCd or 4p( x,y),Se → 5sCd. This work not only provides a deep insight into the origin of the optical activity inside chiral semiconductor nanomaterials but also proposes the design principle of chiral semiconductor nanocrystals with high optic activity.

Finding an approach for pretreatment of radionuclides from contaminated water are interesting topics of research. In present work, the ZSM-5 molecular sieve was characterized with different techniques such as zeta potential, SEM, FT-IR and XRD to clarify the surface properties of sample and applied as a sorbent to concentrate and recover Cs(I) from aqueous solution. The effect of environmental conditions such as contact time, ionic strength, content of sorbent and solution pH on Cs(I) uptake were optimized using batch techniques. Different kinetic and isotherm models were utilized to evaluate the experimental data and the correlation parameters were obtained. Based on the sorption/desorption experiment, it can be deduced that the ZSM-5 molecular sieve has potential application for the rapid and quantitative recovery of radiocesium from wastewater.

Surface albedo is one of the most important properties of underlying surface. However, errors still exist in the calculation of the surface albedo because of complex influencing factors. Understanding the relationship between the surface albedos in different wavebands, and soil moisture will provide theory basis for the parameterization of surface albedos. In this paper, using the data on the spectral radiation and soil moisture observation in Dunhuang, China, from August to October 2016, the spectral radiation characteristics of the underlying surface in this arid Gobi area, the variation characteristics of the surface spectral albedo and its relationship with 2-cm soil moisture were analyzed. The results show that the decrease of the angle of the sun due to seasonal change is the reason of the decrease of NIR, GR, VIS, and UV. The surface albedos in different wavebands are affected by the surface soil moisture, and they exhibit obvious anti-correlations. During the observation period, the average surface albedo of NIR, GR, VIS, and UV is 0.263, 0.230, 0.204, and 0.096, respectively, while the correlation coefficient with 2-cm soil moisture is − 0.522, − 0.678, − 0.804, and − 0.812, respectively. When solar altitude is larger than 40°, the correlation coefficients between the NIR, GR, VIS, and UV surface albedos and 2-cm soil moisture are becoming larger. And the linear regression coefficients between the NIR, GR, VIS, and UV surface albedos and 2-cm soil moisture are becoming smaller. Shorter wavelengths correspond to stronger relationships between the surface albedo and soil moisture. At longer wavelengths, the decrease in the surface albedo due to the increase in soil moisture is sharper.

There are several independent demonstrations that attentional phenomena can be controlled in a context-dependent manner by cues associated with differing attentional control demands. The present set of experiments provide converging evidence that attention-capture phenomena can be modulated in a context-dependent fashion. We determined whether methods from the proportion congruent literature (listwide and item- and context-specific proportion congruent designs) that are known to modulate distractor interference effects in Stroop and flanker tasks are capable of modulating attention capture by salient feature singletons. Across experiments we found evidence that attention capture can be modulated by listwide, item-specific, and context-specific manipulations of proportion congruent. We discuss challenges associated with interpreting results from proportion congruent studies but propose that our findings converge with existing work that has demonstrated context-dependent control of attention capture. (PsycINFO Database Record

In this paper, we obtained a kind of lump solutions of the Kadomtsev-Petviashvili-Benjamin-Bona-Mahony (KP-BBM) equation with the assistance of Mathematica. Some contour plots with different determinant values are sequentially made to show that the corresponding lump solutions tend to zero when x2+y2→∞. Particularly, lump solutions with specific values of the include parameters are plotted, as illustrative examples. Finally, a combination of stripe soliton and lump soliton is discussed to the KP-BBM equation, in which such a solution presents two different interesting phenomena: lump-kink and lump-soliton. Simultaneously, breather rational soliton solutions are displayed.

To explore the possible local climatic and environmental impacts of an onshore wind farm in North China, meteorological observation and satellite remote sensing data around the wind farm were collected, and the soil chemical composition within and outside of the wind farm was determined. Our analysis revealed changes in the spatial patterns of wind, air temperature (Ta), ground surface temperature (Ts), land surface temperature (LST), evapotranspiration (ET), and the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) from before to after the construction of the wind farm. The two datasets of meteorological observations showed that wind speed decreased after the construction of the wind farm, with one dataset indicating a significant decrease. Since the construction of the farm, Ta and Ts have shown increasing trends, and ET has shown a significant increasing trend. The nighttime Ta and LST showed opposite trends, with Ta decreasing and LST increasing. The change in LST was the greatest at the wind farm and in its downwind zone, indicating that the operation of the wind farm affects the LST within and beyond the 10 km buffer zone. After the wind farm construction, the NDVI showed a significant positive trend. However, increases in the concentrations of Ti and Co were observed, suggesting that the construction and operation of wind farm may promote vegetation growth and cause soil pollution. The monitoring of wind farms needs to be strengthened to reveal the long-term impacts of wind farms on local climates and ecosystems.

The application for montmorillonite to deal with toxic metals (including radionuclides) becomes interesting based on its excellent physicochemical properties. In this work, the thermal activation method was utilized to pre-treat montmorillonite before use. The sample was characterized by FTIR, XRD, zeta potential, BET and potentiometric titration to clarify the variation of montmorillonite before and after thermal activation. Batch techniques were used to investigate the sorption ability of montmorillonite to U(VI) under different environmental conditions. The electrical double layer model has been introduced to describe the variation of pre-treated sample as well as the principal mechanism for U(VI) uptake. In addition, the irradiation effects of samples for U(VI) sorption was also investigated. Based on the optimum condition for U(VI) uptake, it can be deduced that the thermally activated montmorillonite has potential application for the removal of U(VI) in wastewater.

Comprehension and modulation of optical activity at nanoscale have attracted tremendous interest in the past decades due to its potential application in many fields including chemical/biological sensing, artificial metamaterials, asymmetric catalysis, and so forth. As for the conventional molecular materials, magnetic field is among the most effective routes in inducing and manipulating their optical activity; whereas the magnetic optical activity at nanoscale calls for deeper understanding, especially for anisotropic noble metal nanoparticles. In this work, distinctly different magnetic circular dichroism (MCD) responses are demonstrated in gold nanorods (GNRs) with a derivative-shaped MCD signal corresponding to the transverse surface plasmon resonance (TSPR) band and a Gaussian-shaped signal at the position of the longitudinal surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) band. Furthermore, changing the aspect ratio of GNRs easily regulates such magnetoplasmonic CD response. More interestingly, GNR assemblies with different geometric configuration (end-to-end and side-by-side) show structure-sensitive magnetoplasmonic CD response. Armed with theoretical calculation, we clearly elucidate the intrinsic relationship of the resultant magnetoplasmonic CD response with the optical symmetry and geometry factor inside one-dimensional GNRs. This work not only greatly benefits our understanding toward the nature of SPR mode in anisotropic plasmonic nanostructures but also opens the way to achieve tunable magnetoplasmonic response, which will significantly advance the design and application of optical nanodevices.

As an emerging type of optically active materials, chiral molecules-stabilized semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) have achieved extensive attention. Unfortunately, understanding of the optical characteristics of chiral QDs observed by circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy remains a great challenge due to their rather weak signals. Herein, we successfully achieve much enhanced CD responses from l- or d-cysteine-stabilized wurtzite CdSe quantum rods (QRs) thanks to their unique optical anisotropy. Furthermore, the optical activity of CdSe QRs is explored to be improved and subsequently become stable with the geometrical aspect ratio (AR) increasing, and such change matches well with alternation of the polarization factor of CdSe QRs. A non-degenerate coupled-oscillator (NDCO) model is established to elucidate the optical activity of chiral QRs, and the positive and negative natures of the CD peaks appearing at the first exciton band are clearly assigned to different transition polarization along 4pz,Se → 5sCd ...

An ultrastrong and broadband chiroptical response is key but remains challenging for many device applications. A simple and cost-effective bottom-up method is introduced to fabricate large-area long-range ordered chiral ultrathin films with the Langmuir-Schaeffer technique using gold nanowires as building blocks. Significantly, as-prepared ultrathin films display giant optical activity across a broad wavelength range covering visible and near infrared regions with an anisotropic factor of up to 0.285, which is the record value for bottom-up techniques. Detailed experimental result and theoretical analysis disclose that such remarkable optical activity originates from birefringence and dichroism of the well-aligned Au nanowire layers in the ultrathin films. The universality of this facile strategy for constructing chiral ultrathin films is further demonstrated with many other one-dimensional nanomaterials.