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Background: Tumor necrosis (TN) is a common feature in lung squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC), which could provide useful predictive and prognostic information. Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the effect of pretreatment pulmonary TN (PTN) on the prognosis of first-line anti-programmed cell death 1 (PD-1)/PD ligand 1 (PD-L1) inhibitor in advanced LSCC. Design: We conducted a retrospective study to analyze the association between the presence of PTN and clinical outcomes in advanced LSCC patients treated with anti-PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors. Methods: Data from 240 eligible patients were collected from 27 hospitals across China between 2016 and 2020. The presence of PTN was assessed using contrast-enhanced chest computed tomography (CT) imaging at baseline. We utilized the Cox proportional-hazards regression model to analyze the association between PTN and clinical outcomes. In addition, to account for potential confounding factors and ensure comparability between groups, we employed propensity score-matching (PSM) analysis. Results: In the overall patient cohort, the presence of PTN was 39.6%. The median follow-up duration was 20.3 months. The positive PTN group exhibited a notably inferior median progression-free survival (PFS; 6.5 months vs 8.6 months, p = 0.012) compared to the negative PTN group. Within the Cox proportional-hazards regression model, PTN emerged as an independent predictor of unfavorable PFS (hazard ratio (HR) = 1.354, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.002–1.830, p = 0.049). After PSM, the median PFS for the positive PTN group (6.5 months vs 8.0 months, p = 0.027) remained worse than that of the negative PTN group. Multivariate analyses also further underscored that the presence of PTN independently posed a risk for shorter PFS (HR = 1.494, 95% CI: 1.056–2.112, p = 0.023). However, no statistically significant difference in overall survival was observed between the two groups. Conclusion: Our study suggests that the presence of PTN on baseline contrast-enhanced chest CT is a potential negative prognostic imaging biomarker for the outcome of anti-PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitor therapy in advanced LSCC. Further studies are warranted to validate these findings and explore the underlying mechanisms.

Abstract Background Advanced lung adenocarcinoma patients often develop resistance to EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors (EGFR-TKIs), leaving uncertainties regarding subsequent treatment strategies. Although personalized therapy targeting individual acquired resistances (ARs) shows promise, its efficacy has not been systematically compared with platinum-containing doublet chemotherapy, a widely accepted treatment after EGFR-TKIs failure. Methods A retrospective dual-center study was conducted involving patients with advanced lung adenocarcinoma and EGFR mutations who developed resistance to EGFR-TKIs between January 2017 and December 2022. Eligible patients were adults aged 18 years or older with an Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group score of 0–1, normal organ function, and no prior chemotherapy. Patients were divided into the chemotherapy group (CG) or personalized therapy group (PG) based on the treatment received after disease progression. The primary endpoints were progression-free survival (PFS) and objective response rate (ORR). Results Of the 144 patients enrolled, there were 53 patients in the PG and 91 patients in the CG. The PG acquired resistance to EGFR-TKIs through the MET amplification (27, 50%) and small cell lung cancer transformation (16, 30%) and 18% of them reported multiple resistance mechanisms. The ORR of the PG was similar to that of the CG (34% vs. 33%, P = 1.0) and the PFS of the PG patients was not statistically different from that of their CG counterparts [4.2 months (95% CI: 3.6–4.8 months) vs. 5.3 months (95% CI: 4.6–6.0 months), P = 0.77]. Conclusions These findings suggest that the therapeutic efficacy of chemotherapy approximates to that of personalized therapy, which signifies that chemotherapy is still a reliable choice for patients who develop resistance to EGFR-TKIs and that further research is awaited to explore the benefit of personalized treatment.

Abstract Immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) rechallenge in non‐small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is a promising therapeutic strategy. The situation for ICI rechallenge can be divided into three categories: adverse events (AEs); resistance to ICIs, and rechallenge becomes compulsive because of tumor relapse while the patients had completed a 2 year course of immunotherapy. However, these categories are still controversial and should be explored further. Through voting at the 6th Straits Summit Forum on Lung Cancer, in this study we summarize the consensus of 147 experts in ICI rechallenges. A total of 97.74% experts agreed to rechallenge; 48.87% experts rechallenge with the original drug, and the others rechallenge with a different drug; 40.3% agreed to rechallenge directly after progression; 88.06% experts agreed to ICI rechallenge with a combination regimen; and factors such as previous performance status score, PD‐1 expression, and age should also be considered. Understanding the the clinical studies in ICI rechallenge could bring us one step closer to understanding the consensus. In patients with advanced NSCLC who have suffered recurrent or distant metastasis after immunotherapy, the option of rechallenge with ICIs is a promising treatment option.

Abstract Immune checkpoint inhibitors (PD‐1/PD‐L1 and CTLA‐4 blockade) have revolutionized the treatment landscape in non‐small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Secondary resistance to immunotherapy (IO), which poses a substantial challenge in clinical settings, occurs in several initial responders. Currently, new treatment approaches have been extensively evaluated in investigational studies for these patients to tackle this difficult problem; however, the lack of consistency in clinical definition, uniform criteria for enrollment in clinical trials, and interpretation of results remain significant hurdles to progress. Thus, our expert panel comprehensively synthesized data from current studies to propose a practical clinical definition of secondary resistance to immunotherapy in NSCLC in metastatic and neoadjuvant settings. In addition to patients who received IO alone (including IO‐IO combinations), we also generated a definition for patients treated with chemotherapy plus IO. This consensus aimed to provide guidance for clinical trial design and facilitate future discussions with investigators. It should be noted that additional updates in this consensus are required when new data is available.

Abstract Aims To investigate the predictive value of baseline C-reactive protein (CRP) levels on the efficacy of chemotherapy plus immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) in patients with advanced lung squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC). Materials and methods In this retrospective multicenter study spanning from January 2016 to December 2020, advanced LSCC patients initially treated with chemotherapy or a combination of chemotherapy and ICI were categorized into normal and elevated CRP subgroups. The relationship between CRP levels and treatment outcomes was analyzed using multivariate Cox proportional hazards models and multivariate logistic regression, focusing primarily on the progression-free survival (PFS) endpoint, and secondarily on overall survival (OS) and objective response rate (ORR) endpoints. Survival curves were generated using the Kaplan-Meier method, with the log-rank test used for comparison between groups. Results Of the 245 patients evaluated, the 105 who received a combination of chemotherapy and ICI with elevated baseline CRP levels exhibited a significant reduction in PFS (median 6.5 months vs. 11.8 months, HR, 1.78; 95% CI: 1.12–2.81; p = 0.013) compared to those with normal CRP levels. Elevated CRP was identified as an independent risk factor for poor PFS through multivariate-adjusted analysis. However, among the 140 patients receiving chemotherapy alone, baseline CRP levels did not significantly influence PFS. Furthermore, within the combination therapy group, there was a notable decrease in the ORR (51% vs. 71%, p = 0.035), coupled with a significantly shorter OS (median 20.9 months vs. 31.5 months, HR, 2.24; 95% CI: 1.13–4.44; p = 0.033). Conclusion In patients with advanced LSCC, elevated baseline CRP levels were identified as an independent predictive factor for the efficacy of combination therapy with chemotherapy and ICI, but not in chemotherapy alone. This suggests that CRP may be a valuable biomarker for guiding treatment strategies.

Abstract Treatment response and prognosis estimation in advanced pulmonary adenocarcinoma are challenged by the significant heterogeneity of the disease. The current Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST) criteria, despite providing a basis for solid tumor response evaluation, do not fully encompass this heterogeneity. To better represent these nuances, we introduce the intertumoral heterogeneity response score (THRscore), a measure built upon and expanding the RECIST criteria. This retrospective study included patients with 3–10 measurable advanced lung adenocarcinoma lesions who underwent first‐line chemotherapy or targeted therapy. The THRscore, derived from the coefficient of variation in size for each measurable tumor before and 4–6 weeks posttreatment, unveiled a correlation with patient outcomes. Specifically, a high THRscore was associated with shorter progression‐free survival, lower tumor response rate, and a higher tumor mutation burden. These associations were further validated in an external cohort, confirming THRscore's effectiveness in stratifying patients based on progression risk and treatment response, and enhancing the utility of RECIST in capturing complex tumor behaviors in lung adenocarcinoma. These findings affirm the promise of THRscore as an enhanced tool for tumor response assessment in advanced lung adenocarcinoma, extending the RECIST criteria's utility.

Two molecular nanocarbons result from merging a negatively curved nanographene and a carbon nanoring in two constitutional isomers of D2 and C2v symmetry, respectively. They were synthesized by attachment of C-shaped paraphenylene precursors to 2,11,18,27-tetrabromooctabenzo[8]­circulene and the subsequent intramolecular Yamamoto coupling and reductive aromatization reactions. The flexible nature of octabenzo[8]­circulene enabled two different ways of connection in the Yamamoto coupling reactions, leading to the two constitutional isomers. The D2 isomer is shaped like a figure eight, as revealed by X-ray crystallography, and is resolved into two enantiomers by chiral HPLC. The synthesis of the C2v isomer is regarded as a further step toward precision synthesis of carbon schwarzites through a bottom-up approach.

A citric acid cross-linked β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) polymer was synthesized and loaded on micro-ceramic balls to fabricate the solid-phase adsorbents (P-MCB) for adsorption and extraction of triazole pesticides from water. The stability of β-CD polymer and P-MCB was investigated in solutions with different pH values at different temperatures. The adsorption properties and the influence of kinetics, sorbent amount, pesticide concentration, and temperature on the adsorption capacity were evaluated. The results showed P-MCB had favorable adsorption of 15.98 mg/g flutriafol in 3.5 h. The equilibrium data followed the Freundlich equation, and the adsorption of flutriafol and diniconazole followed the second-order kinetics. The recovery rate of P-MCB for triazole pesticides in water was satisfactory, and the recovery rate was still 80.1%, even at the 10th cycle. The P-MCB had good stability, with a degradation rate of 0.2% ± 0.08 within 10 days, which could ensure extraction and recycling.

To meet the ever-increasing demand for next-generation lithography machines, the actuator plays an important role in the achievement of high acceleration of the wafer stage. However, the voice coil motor, which is widely used in high-precision positioning systems, is reaching its physical limits. To tackle this problem, a novel way to design the actuator using the magnetoresistance effect is argued due to the high force densities. However, the strong nonlinearity limits its application in the nan-positioning system. In particular, the hysteresis is coupled with eddy effects and displacement, which lead to a rate-dependent and displacement-dependent hysteresis effect in the reluctance actuator. In this paper, a Hammerstein structure is used to model the rate-dependent reluctance actuator. At the same time, the displacement-dependent of the model is regarded as the interference with the system. Additionally, a control strategy combining inverse model compensation and the disturbance observer-based discrete sliding mode control was proposed, which can effectively suppress the hysteresis effect. It is worthy pointing out that the nonlinear system is transformed into a linear system with inversion bias and disturbance by the inverse model compensation. What is more, the sliding mode controller based on the disturbance observer is designed to deal with the unmodeled dynamics, displacement disturbances, and model identification errors in linear systems. Thus, the tracking performance and robustness to external disturbances of the system are improved. The simulation results show that it is superior to the PI controller combined with an inverse compensator and even to the discrete sliding mode controller connected with inverse compensator, confirming the effectiveness of the novel control method in alleviating hysteresis.

BackgroundCancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) within the tumor microenvironment (TME) are critical for immune suppression by restricting immune cell infiltration in the tumor stromal zones from penetrating tumor islands and changing their function status, particularly for CD8+ T cells. However, assessing and quantifying the impact of CAFs on immune cells and investigating how this impact is related to clinical outcomes, especially the efficacy of immunotherapy, remain unclear.Materials and methodsThe TME was characterized using immunohistochemical (IHC) analysis using a large-scale sample size of gene expression profiles. The CD8+ T cell/CAF ratio (CFR) association with survival was investigated in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) lung cancer cohorts. The correlation between CFR and immunotherapeutic efficacy was computed in five independent cohorts. The correlation between CFR and objective response rates (ORRs) following pembrolizumab monotherapy was investigated in 20 solid tumor types. To facilitate clinical translation, the IHC-detected CD8/α-SMA ratio was applied as an immunotherapeutic predictive biomarker in a real-world lung cancer cohort.ResultsCompared with normal tissue, CAFs were enriched in cancer tissue, and the amount of CAFs was overwhelmingly higher than that in other immune cells. CAFs are positively correlated with the extent of immune infiltration. A higher CFR was strongly associated with improved survival in lung cancer, melanoma, and urothelial cancer immunotherapy cohorts. Within most cohorts, there was no clear evidence for an association between CFR and programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) or tumor mutational burden (TMB). Compared with TMB and PD-L1, a higher correlation coefficient was observed between CFR and the ORR following pembrolizumab monotherapy in 20 solid tumor types (Spearman’s r = 0.69 vs. 0.44 and 0.21). In a real-world cohort, patients with a high CFR detected by IHC benefited considerably from immunotherapy as compared with those with a low CFR (hazard ratio, 0.37; 95% confidence interval, 0.19–0.75; p < 0.001).ConclusionsCFR is a newly found and simple parameter that can be used for identifying patients unlikely to benefit from immunotherapy. Future studies are needed to confirm this finding.

The performance of the actuator is becoming increasingly important in the ultra-precision stage. However, the traditional Lorentz motors with given mechanical parameters cannot provide enough force for the next-generation motion stage in the semiconductor industry since they achieve a physical limit of power factor. To tackle this problem, this study develops a novel-driven approach and its control strategy for high-dynamic stages. Explicitly, the proposed method utilizes a linear reluctance motor as an actuator, which could promote the continuous thrust significantly. A heuristic optimization-based Bouc–Wen model is established to describe the nonlinear behavior of the novel actuator. Also, a flux control algorithm based on the integral sliding mode is derived and adjusted for precision thrust generation. Comparative simulations on a specific linear reluctance motor confirm the effectiveness and superiority of the proposed method and show that it has the ability to conquer the force nonlinearity of the novel actuator.

Lung adenosquamous carcinoma (ASC) is an uncommon histological subtype. We aimed to characterize the tumor immune microenvironment (TIME) in lung ASC and estimate patient response to immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs), which have never been systematically investigated. In cohort I, we collected 30 ASCs from a single center for analysis of TIME characteristics, including immuno-phenotyping, tumor mutation burden (TMB), T-cell receptor (TCR) repertoires, tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs), and immune checkpoint expression. Twenty-two (73.3%) patients were EGFR-positive. The TIME was defined by immune-excluded (60%) and immune-desert phenotype (40%). Strikingly, programmed cell death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) and programmed cell death-1 (PD-1) were predominantly expressed in squamous cell carcinoma components (SCCCs) versus adenocarcinoma components (ACCs), where enhanced CD4+ FOXP3+ regulatory T cell and attenuated CD57+ natural killer cell infiltration were present, consistent with a landscape of fewer innate immune cells, more immunosuppressive cells. SCCCs had higher TMB, higher TCR clonality, and lower TCR diversity than ACC. In cohort III, the efficacy of ICI-based therapy was estimated using a real-world data of 46 ASCs from 11 centers. Majority of 46 patients were driver genes negative and unknown mutation status, 18 (39%) and 18 (39%), respectively. The overall objective response rate of 28%, median progression-free survival of 6.0 months (95% confidence interval [CI] 4.3–7.7), and median overall survival of 24.7 months (95% CI 7.2–42.2) were observed in the ICI-based treatment. This work ascertains suppressive TIME in lung ASC and genetic and immuno-heterogeneity between ACCs and SCCCs. Lung ASC patients have a moderate response to ICI-based immunotherapy.

A novel sericin-dextran conjugate (SDC) and self-assembled microparticles has been prepared for improving solubility of atazanavir. Microparticles of SDC were assembled by the reprecipitation method. The size and morphology of SDC microparticles could be adjusted by the concentration and solvents. Low concentration was conducive to the preparation of microspheres. Heterogeneous microspheres could be prepared in ethanol with the range of 85–390 nm, and hollow mesoporous microspheres in propanol with an average particle size of 2.5–22 µm. The aqueous solubility of atazanavir was improved to 2.22 mg/mL in buffer solutions at pH 2.0 and 1.65 mg/mL at pH 7.4 by SDC microspheres. In vitro release of atazanavir from hollow microspheres of SDC exhibited a slower release, had the lowest linear cumulative release in basic buffer (pH 8.0), and the most rapid double exponential diphase kinetic cumulative release in acid buffer (pH 2.0).

Abstract Synthesis of an unprecedented aromatic saddle consisting of 80 sp2 carbons is enabled by including naphthylene groups in the substrate of the Scholl reaction. The negatively curved polycyclic framework of this aromatic saddle is revealed by the single crystal X-ray crystallography, and its stereodynamics are studied with density functional theory calculations.

Developing large-scale flexible display technologies calls for new gate dielectric materials balancing the insulating property and molecular packing of organic semiconductors. Ji et al. synthesize a dielectric copolymer contributing with charge mobility of 5 cm2 V−1 s−1 and low operating voltage of 3 V.

The vibration effect of urban rail transit has gained attention from both academia and the industry sector. Long Elastic Sleeper Track (LEST) is a new structure for vibration reduction which has recently been designed and applied to Chinese subways. However, little research has been devoted to its vibration reduction effect. In this study, field tests were conducted during peak transit hours on Beijing Subway Line 15 to examine the vibration reduction effects of the common ballastless track and LEST on both straight and curved sections. The results demonstrate that although LEST increases the wheel-rail vertical forces, rail vertical displacements, and rail accelerations to some extent, these effects do not threaten subway operational safety, and vibrations of track bed and tunnel wall are positively mitigated. LEST has an obvious vibration reduction effect at frequencies above 40 Hz. In straight track, the vibration of bottom of the tunnel wall measured in one-third octave bands is reduced by 10.52 dB, while the vibration at point on the tunnel wall at 1.5 m height is reduced by 9.60 dB. For the curved track, the vibrations at those two points are reduced by 9.35 dB and 8.44 dB, respectively. This indicates that LEST reduces vibrations slightly more for the straight track than for the curved track.

In allusion to the optimal sensor placement problems for the condition monitoring and fault diagnosis of the vehicle control system in the weapon system, the optimal sensor placement theory based on Bode sensitivity function is adopted to place sensor. Simulation experiment is carried out through simulation model which has a two-circuit closed loop system, and the results indicate the rationality of choosing detection points according to sensitivity function amplitude. Finally, the basic scheme and instructive rules on sensor placement of the vehicle control system are proposed. The scheme can optimize the sensor placement and obtain the rich information of the system at a low cost. By this way, the effect of condition monitoring and fault diagnosing are improved obviously.

In allusion to the problem that bus break fault can’t be detected when CAN bus is not in the process of data changing, a new method that through adding high frequency signal generator and corresponding detection unit on the bus network has been brought forward, and the CAN bus break fault detection method has been realized. In this paper, detection model of CAN bus break fault is constructed, the 5 MHz sinusoidal signal generator and circuit design of detection unit are also provided. Finally, the rationality of the new method is verified by a 4 nodes network. The research conclusions indicate that bus break fault detection can be detected in real-time and completely by this way. Besides, the provided method is not occupy the network band width and can solve the existing detection institution problem effectively, the apply prospect is very fine in the occasion whose reliability requirement is relatively high.

Background and objective Lung lymphoepithelioma-like carcinoma is a rare subtype of large cell carcinomas of the lung. The aim of this study is to retrospectively analyze the clinical characteristics, surgical methods, laboratory inspection, chemotherapy, radiotherapy and prognosis of LELC. Methods From 2004 to 2008, clinical data were collected from 21 patients who were treated in Shanghai Chest Hospital. The correlation between clinicopathological characteristics and prognosis was evaluated. Results Of the 21 patients, 15 patients had lobectomy; 4 patients had wedge resection; 1 patient had pneumonectomy and 1 patient had sleeve resection. 12 patients received chemotherapy and 3 patients received radiotherapy after operation. Until 2009-4-31, 4 patients died, and the median survival time (MST) was 49 months. Conclusion Lymphoepitheliomalike carcinoma of the lung is a very rare and unique subtype of large cell carcinomas of the lung, which has a better prognosis with surgical, chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

Gender-stereotyped beliefs develop early in childhood and are thought to increase with age based on prior research that was primarily carried out in Western cultures. Little research, however, has examined cross-cultural (in)consistencies in the developmental trajectory of gender-stereotyped beliefs. The present study examined implicit gender-toy stereotypes among 4- to 9-year-olds (N = 1,013; 49.70% girls) in Canada, China, and Thailand. Children from all three cultures evidenced implicit gender-toy stereotypes over this developmental period, but cultural differences in the developmental pattern and strength of these stereotypes were apparent. Gender-toy stereotypes were relatively strong and stable across age groups among Thai children and relatively weak and stable across age groups among Chinese children. Canadian 4- to 5-year-old children displayed weaker stereotypes, whereas 6- to 9-year-olds displayed stronger stereotypes. These findings highlight the contribution of culture to children's gender stereotype development. Although gender-toy stereotypes were found among 4- to 9-year-olds in all three cultures examined here, the strength of these stereotypes varies by culture. Furthermore, the previously described increase in gender stereotyping over this developmental period appears to not apply across cultures, thus challenging the conventional view on development in this domain based on prior, mainly Western, research.

Current understanding of how culture relates to the development of children's gender-related peer preferences is limited. To investigate the role of societal acceptance of gender nonconformity, this study compared children from China and Thailand. Unlike China and other cultures where the conceptualization of gender as binary is broadly accepted, individuals who identify as a nonbinary "third" sex/gender have been highly visible and tolerated in Thai society for at least several decades. Chinese and Thai 4- to 9-year-olds (N = 458) viewed vignettes of four hypothetical peers who varied on gender (i.e., boy vs. girl) and gender-typed toy play behavior (i.e., masculine vs. feminine), and were asked to give a friendship preference rating for each peer. Chinese, compared with Thai, children evidenced gender-related peer preferences that emerged earlier, remained more stable across age groups, and were relatively more biased against gender-nonconforming behavior. The only cultural similarity was in children's preference for peers who were of the same gender and/or displayed same-gender-typed behavior. Thus, while preference for peers who are of the same gender and/or display same-gender-typed behavior is common among children across cultures, the developmental onset and course of these preferences vary by culture. Moreover, societal acceptance of gender nonconformity might be key to limiting children's bias against gender-nonconforming peers.

Age-related differences in explicit and implicit racial biases in Black Cameroonians (N = 187, 94 females) were investigated using a cross-sectional design. Participants ranged in age from 3 to 30 years, and were from middle-to-high income families in Yaoundé, Cameroon. Biases were assessed by comparing attitudes toward Blacks with those toward Whites and Chinese. Implicit pro-Black/anti-other-race (White and Chinese) biases were present at age 4, in contrast to anti-Black/pro-other-race biases, which were observed among 9- to 30-year-olds. In addition, explicit pro-Black/anti-other-race biases that were present at age 4 were no longer evident by age 7. These findings provide a detailed picture of age-related differences in racial biases in an understudied part of the world that can inform theories regarding the development of racial biases, as well as efforts to reduce such biases.

Bilingual children have been shown to differ from monolingual children in several domains of human cognition. Comparatively few studies have investigated social-interactional processes in bilingual populations. Here, we investigated whether monolingual and bilingual children demonstrate similar susceptibility to an aspect of social functioning with broad societal reach: racial bias. We measured both implicit and explicit biases against African race individuals in 2 groups of monolingual preschoolers (native speakers of English or Chinese) and in 2 groups of English-Chinese bilingual preschoolers (tested in English or Chinese; total N = 160). We found that monolingual children demonstrated greater implicit bias against African race individuals than bilingual children, independent of their native language. Monolingual Chinese children demonstrated greater explicit bias than bilingual children, although monolingual English children's explicit bias scores did not differ from those of bilingual children. Findings are discussed in terms of cognitive and experiential mechanisms that may link bilingualism and racial bias.

We investigated the developmental courses of both implicit and explicit racial biases in relation to the perceived social status of outgroups. We did so by assessing these biases among Chinese participants (N = 200, age range from 4- to 19-year-olds) toward 2 different other-race groups that differ in terms of perceived social status (i.e., Whites and Blacks). At the youngest age, children showed both implicit anti-White and anti-Black bias at similar levels. However, these biases had different patterns of age-related change: implicit anti-Black bias remained strong and stable over time, whereas implicit anti-White bias declined after age 10. For explicit bias, children showed a decline in anti-Black and anti-White bias. Implicit and explicit biases were uncorrelated at all ages. The observed age-related changes demonstrate that it is possible for patterns of biases toward different races to diverge with age, and that perceived social status may contribute to the differential developmental patterns.

This research investigated the relation between racial categorization and implicit racial bias in majority and minority children. Chinese and Indian 3- to 7-year-olds from Singapore (N = 158) categorized Chinese and Indian faces by race and had their implicit and explicit racial biases measured. Majority Chinese children, but not minority Indian children, showed implicit bias favoring own race. Regardless of ethnicity, children's racial categorization performance correlated positively with implicit racial bias. Also, Chinese children, but not Indian children, displayed explicit bias favoring own race. Furthermore, children's explicit bias was unrelated to racial categorization performance and implicit bias. The findings support a perceptual--social linkage in the emergence of implicit racial bias and have implications for designing programs to promote interracial harmony.

The efficiency of the textile hot air-drying process fundamentally requires the uniformity of the airflow that impinges on the textile fabric. Optimization of a stenter machine's hot air supply chamber shape was conducted in this paper, based on the actual real-size model and considering both the outlet flow uniformity and the standard velocity deviation as responses. The purpose is to improve the airflow uniformity at the chamber outlet, and modifications applied to the baseline must be applicable to both old and next-generation stenter machines. Coupled Computational Fluid Dynamics and Design of Experiment (CFD-DoE) optimization on the stenter machine chamber geometry was carried out. The CFD model was validated by measuring the chamber outlet velocity using a 2D velocity scanner. After choosing seven factors based on mechanical manufacturing and fluid dynamics theories, a main effect screening design was conducted to highlight relevant factors that influence the outlet airflow distribution. By fixing the best categorical factors, a central composite design (CCD) was applied using three other continuous factors to generate a quadratic prediction model that could be used to simultaneously maximize and minimize the uniformity index (UI) and the standard deviation (SD), respectively. With the embedded JMP SAS desirability function, the optimal value was calculated based on a statistical approach. Those values were used to design an optimal stenter air supply chamber that has been simulated with Fluent CFD code to validate the statistical prediction model. Finally, optimized geometry was obtained and experimentally validated. Results show that this new chamber improved by 16.48% for the uniformity index and 38.07% for the standard deviation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the water‐insoluble dispersing dye has both absorption and scattering characteristics, a spatial resolution hyperspectral measurement approach and experimental testing was proposed in this article, which can collect spectral and spatial data from samples simultaneously. The concentration of 81 groups of three‐component disperse dye samples were measured. However, the hyperspectral data of dye solutions in the 420–800 nm band is saturated, resulting in the inability for multispectral data processing. A segmented concentration quantitative analysis model was developed. For the unsaturated band (420–510 nm), the partial least squares (PLS), the N‐way partial least squares (NPLS), and support vector machine (SVM) models using the data points on the X‐axis of a two‐dimensional light intensity distribution map were established. The predicted performance of PLS model was worse slightly than that of the other two models, The coefficient of determination (R2) values of concentrations for red, orange and blue disperse dye were 0.888, 0.796 and 0.959, respectively. For saturated band (520–670 nm), the NPLS and SVM models using the data points on the X‐ and Y‐axis were established. Results shows that the prediction accuracy of concentrations of the three‐component disperse dye was increased by adding additional data points on the Y‐axis, with R2 values of 0.944, 0.807, and 0.912, respectively. For the strong scattering band (680–800 nm), a SVM model was established, and R2 of concentration of the three dyes reached 0.974, 0.933 and 0.995, respectively. The results showed that multidimensional spectroscopy method can improve the prediction accuracy of component concentration of disperse dye solution, by using more spectral information from X and Y directions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two studies with preschool-age children examined the effectiveness of perceptual individuation training at reducing racial bias (Study 1, N = 32; Study 2, N = 56). We found that training preschool-age children to individuate other-race faces resulted in a reduction in implicit racial bias while mere exposure to other-race faces produced no such effect. We also showed that neither individuation training nor mere exposure reduced explicit racial bias. Theoretically, our findings provide strong evidence for a causal link between individual-level face processing and implicit racial bias, and are consistent with the newly proposed perceptual-social linkage hypothesis. Practically, our findings suggest that offering children experiences that allow them to increase their expertise in processing individual other-race faces will help reduce their implicit racial bias.