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Abstract Water, abundant and ubiquitous in nature, is an easy yet powerful resource for the creatures to survive by putting together with their topologies interfacing their living environment. Here, a slippery, water‐infusing surface (SWIS) that retains a thick and stable water layer on the membrane is presented, robustly maintaining the oil repellency against the pressure and friction of immiscible liquids. Inspired by the plant trichome structures and their function, grooved nanotrichome, formed on the fibrous membrane by the oxygen plasma etching, induces robust water lubrication on the SWIS. SWIS membrane repels and separates highly viscous and adhesive oils in air and underwater by preventing oils from adhering to the lubricating surface. Repeated tests both in air and underwater confirm the antiadhesion and self‐cleaning properties of the SWIS. The SWIS oil scooper, fixed on a frame with a handle, successfully collects spilled oil on a pilot‐scale oil spill site and a real ocean oil spill site by simply scooping and recovering the oil. In addition, SWIS membrane is expected to help protect environments with further applications such as oil‐wastewater treatment and oil separation in food.

A 15-year-old, spayed female, Scottish Straight cat without any traumatic history was presented with swollen abdomen and diagnosed as an abdominal wall hernia. Abdominal ultrasound revealed thickened, irregular, and hypoechoic change of abdominal wall muscle adjacent to defect. During the herniorrhaphy, multiple nodules were identified in the subcutaneous tissue around the defect. Histological examination of the nodular tissue was performed, and it was confirmed as mammary gland tumor. After the surgery, metastatic changes of the pancreas were identified, and pleural effusion and ascites were also confirmed. The patient deteriorated rapidly and died 78 days after the surgery. This is the first case presenting abdominal wall hernia induced by malignant tumor in veterinary medicine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study analysed digital literacy issues encountered by elementary school teachers in remote classrooms due to COVID-19. The study sought to derive a plan for cultivating teachers’ digital literacy to support students’ distance education. To this end, focus group interviews were conducted with five elementary school teachers in charge of upper grades, the results were analysed, and strategies to improve teacher digital literacy were derived. Specifically, three main areas of teacher digital literacy were identified for improvement. The first was providing training to use digital devices and online platforms, develop online content, and strengthen copyright understanding. The second was providing professional development programs to train digital teaching methods or pedagogies by level and by subject characteristics. The third was activating online and offline platforms for information sharing among teachers and establish a digital teaching support system. This study will be of value to teachers and school administrations in preparing for distance education in the era of digital transformation because it presents measures to foster teachers’ digital literacy required by future society.

R134a, a vehicle refrigerant used in the vehicle heat pump system, is regulated according to the Montreal Protocol. Refrigerants such as R1234yf, R744, and R290 in vehicle heat pump systems are being investigated to identify their alternatives. Because developing a new system exclusively for new refrigerants is costly, an empirical test was conducted on the R1234yf refrigerant in a heat pump system designed for the R134a refrigerant in an actual vehicle system. The heating, cooling, and battery-cooling modes were tested for the amount of refrigerant charge, and operability tests were conducted for the compressor load; heating, ventilation, air conditioning (HVAC) air flow rate; coolant temperature; and flow rate of each mode. The optimal refrigerant charge in heating mode was 0.7 kg, and the optimal refrigerant charge in the cooling and battery-cooling modes was 0.9 kg. To yield the highest coefficient of performance of the system, the compressor load was 50%, the HVAC fan was 12 V, and the coolant flow rate was 10 LPM. The most efficient system operation was possible at a coolant temperature of 30 °C in the cooling and heating modes and at 20 °C in battery-cooling mode.

This case report describes a patient with post-neurosurgical infection and bacteremia caused by Klebsiella pneumoniae carbapenemase-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae. There is limited evidence to guide antibiotic treatment decisions for such infections. The patient was treated with meropenem-vaborbactam (MEV). MEV monotherapy was associated with bacteremia clearance.

Emphasis manipulation is a way to help learners by directing their attention to particular subcomponents of a learning task. This study investigated the effects of different approaches to emphasis manipulation on knowledge transfer and cognitive load. This was done by examining the impact of three task selection strategies: system-controlled, learner-controlled, and shared-controlled. Forty-five students (n = 45) in the first or second year of high school were randomly assigned to three groups and each group used a different type of task selection to manipulate emphasis in a complex learning context. The system-controlled group carried out learning tasks that were identified as essential by the system. The learner-controlled group selected and carried out learning tasks they needed to learn. The shared-controlled group chose and carried out learning tasks that they wanted to learn from a list of suggested learning tasks. The tasks had four learning phases: pre-test, training, mental-effort rating, and transfer test. After participants completed the training, their cognitive load was measured. One week after the training, a transfer test was conducted to measure the constituent skill acquisition. The findings revealed that the system-controlled task selection strategy was the most effective in optimizing cognitive load and enhancing knowledge transfer. In addition, learners benefited from personalized guidance on learning task selection based on their expertise. Given that the shared-controlled task selection method was more effective than the learner-controlled task selection, this study’s results indicate that learners should be provided with information about how to select learning tasks when they are allowed to do so.

During early viral infection, activation of natural killer (NK) cells elicits the effector functions of target cell lysis and cytokine production. However, the cellular and molecular mechanisms leading to NK cell activation during viral infections are incompletely understood. In this study, using a model of acute viral infection, we investigated the mechanisms controlling cytotoxic activity and cytokine production in response to influenza (flu) virus. Analysis of cytokine receptor deficient mice demonstrated that type I interferons (IFNs), but not IL-12 or IL-18, were critical for the NK cell expression of both IFN-γ and granzyme B in response to flu infection. Further, adoptive transfer experiments revealed that NK cell activation was mediated by type I IFNs acting directly on NK cells. Analysis of signal transduction molecules showed that during flu infection, STAT1 activation in NK cells was completely dependent on direct type I IFN signaling, whereas STAT4 activation was only partially dependent. In addition, granzyme B induction in NK cells was mediated by signaling primarily through STAT1, but not STAT4, while IFN-γ production was mediated by signaling through STAT4, but not STAT1. Therefore, our findings demonstrate the importance of direct action of type I IFNs on NK cells to mount effective NK cell responses in the context of flu infection and delineate NK cell signaling pathways responsible for controlling cytotoxic activity and cytokine production.