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Abstract Se alloying has enabled significantly higher carrier lifetimes and photocurrents in CdTe solar cells, but these benefits can be highly dependent on CdSexTe1‐x processing. This work evaluates the optoelectronic, chemical, and electronic properties of thick (3 µm) undoped CdSexTe1‐x of uniform composition and varied processing conditions (CdSexTe1‐x evaporation rate, CdCl2 anneal, Se content) chosen to reflect various standard device processing conditions. Sub‐bandgap defect emission is observed, which increased as Se content increased and with “GrV‐optimized CdCl2” (i.e., CdCl2 anneal conditions used for group‐V‐doped devices). Low carrier lifetime is found for GrV‐optimized CdCl2, slow CdSexTe1‐x deposition, and low‐Se films. Interestingly, all films (including CdTe control) exhibited n‐type behavior, where electron density increased with Se up to an estimated ≈1017 cm−3. This behavior appears to originate during the CdCl2 anneal, possibly from Se diffusion leading to anion vacancy (e.g., VSe, VTe) and ClTe generation.

We study theoretically and experimentally the acoustic Purcell effect induced by quasi-bound states in the continuum (quasiBICs). A theoretical framework describing the acoustic Purcell effect of a resonant system is developed based on the system’s radiative and dissipative factors, which reveals the critical emission condition for achieving optimum Purcell factors. We show that the quasiBICs contribute to highly confined acoustic field and bring about greatly enhanced acoustic emission, leading to strong Purcell effect. Our concept is demonstrated via two coupled resonators supporting a Friedrich–Wintgen quasiBIC, and the theoretical results are validated by the experiments observing emission enhancement of the sound source by nearly two orders of magnitude. Our work bridges the gap between the acoustic Purcell effect and acoustic BICs essential for enhanced wave-matter interaction and acoustic emission, which may contribute to the research of high-intensity sound sources, high-quality-factor acoustic devices and nonlinear acoustics.

Abstract Firefighters have elevated rates of urinary tract cancers and other adverse health outcomes, which may be attributable to environmental occupational exposures. Untargeted metabolomics was applied to characterize this suite of environmental exposures and biological changes in response to occupational firefighting. 200 urine samples from 100 firefighters collected at baseline and two to four hours post-fire were analyzed using untargeted liquid-chromatography and high-resolution mass spectrometry. Changes in metabolite abundance after a fire were estimated with fixed effects linear regression, with false discovery rate (FDR) adjustment. Partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) was also used, and variable important projection (VIP) scores were extracted. Systemic changes were evaluated using pathway enrichment for highly discriminating metabolites. Metabolome-wide-association-study (MWAS) identified 268 metabolites associated with firefighting activity at FDR q

Abstract The self, like the concept of central "gravity", facilitates the processing of information that is directly relevant to the self. This phenomenon is known as the self-prioritization effect. However, it remains unclear whether the self-prioritization effect extends to the processing of emotional facial expressions. To fill this gap, we used a self-association paradigm to investigate the impact of self-relevance on the recognition of emotional facial expressions while controlling for confounding factors such as familiarity and overlearning. Using a large and diverse sample, we replicated the effect of self-relevance on face processing but found no evidence for a modulation of self-relevance on facial emotion recognition. We propose two potential theoretical explanations to account for these findings and emphasize that further research with different experimental designs and a multitasks measurement approach is needed to understand this mechanism fully. Overall, our study contributes to the literature on the parallel cognitive processing of self-relevance and facial emotion recognition, with implications for both social and cognitive psychology.

The aim of this research is to investigate which CALL glossing modes (text only, text plus audio, and text plus video clips) are effective for learners' idiom acquisition. Ninety-nine intermediate-level first-year students from a university in China were divided into three groups. In order to determine if CALL glossing had any effect on students' idiom learning, pre- and post-idiom tests were administered. In addition, all the participants completed a questionnaire and five participants from each group completed face-to-face interviews to understand learners' perceptions of different CALL glosses. The results indicated that all three glossing modes promoted idiom acquisition; specifically, text with video glossing mode was more effective than text plus audio glosses and text only glossing mode. These results offer pedagogical implications for idiom teaching and learning, and also provide valuable insights for education in the future.

Fluid-solid interaction, long investigated, is mostly neglected in topological acoustics. Here the authors find that it can give rise to intriguing topological phenomena in simple phononic crystals due to intrinsic differences between sound in fluid and solid.

Abstract Background Negative emotions among employees have become a public problem that increase the risk of developing the disease and accelerate its progression. This study aimed to investigate the status and influencing factors of negative emotions among young employees in center of disease control and prevention. Methods Participants included 6099 employees aged 40 or below in center of disease control and prevention (CDC) of 32 province of China were interviewed by online questionnaire survey. The emotional conditions of anxiety and depression, and their influencing factors were analyzed. Results A total of 5353 valid questionnaires were collected with the recovery rate of 87.77%. 2871 cases of young employees had different degrees of negative emotions at work, accounting for about 53.60%. Regression analysis showed that gender, professional title, educational level, job satisfaction, chronic diseases, daily sleep duration, average weekly overtime, physical activity time, and sugary beverage intake were the influencing factors of negative emotions (P

Redox flow batteries (RFBs) have attracted significant attention as a promising electrochemical energy storage technology, offering various advantages such as grid-scale electricity production with variable intermittent electricity delivery, enhanced safety compared to metal-ion batteries, decoupled energy and power density, and simplified manufacturing processes. For this review, we exclusively focus on organic, non-aqueous redox flow batteries. Specifically, we address the most recent progress and the major challenges related to the design and synthesis of robust redox-active organic compounds. An extensive examination of the synthesis and characterization of a wide spectrum of redox-active molecules, focusing particularly on derivatives of posolytes such as quinone, nitroxyl radicals, dialkoxybenzenes, and phenothiazine and negolytes such as viologen and pyridiniums, is provided. We explore the incorporation of various functional groups as documented in the references, aiming to enhance the chemical and electrochemical stability, as well as the solubility, of both the neutral and radical states of redox-active molecules. Additionally, we offer a comprehensive assessment of the cell-cycling performance exhibited by these redox-active molecules.

Intelligent transportation systems (ITS) urgently need to realize vehicle identification, dynamic monitoring, and traffic flow monitoring under high-speed motion conditions. Vehicle tracking based on radio frequency identification (RFID) and electronic vehicle identification (EVI) can obtain continuous observation data for a long period of time, and the acquisition accuracy is relatively high, which is conducive to the discovery of rules. The data can provide key information for urban traffic decision-making research. In this paper, an RFID tag motion trajectory tracking method based on RF multiple features for ITS is proposed to analyze the movement trajectory of vehicles at important checkpoints. The method analyzes the accurate relationship between the RSSI, phase differences, and driving distances of the tag. It utilizes the information weight method to obtain the weights of multiple RF characteristics at different distances. Then, it calculates the center point of the common area where the vehicle may move under multi-antenna conditions, confirming the actual position of the vehicle. The experimental results show that the average positioning error of moving RFID tags based on dual-frequency signal phase differences and RSSI is less than 17 cm. This method can provide real-time, high-precision vehicle positioning and trajectory tracking solutions for ITS application scenarios such as parking guidance, unmanned vehicle route monitoring, and vehicle lane change detection.

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread worldwide, an unprecedented amount of open data is being generated for medical, genetics, and epidemiological research. The unparalleled rate at which many research groups around the world are releasing data and publications on the ongoing pandemic is allowing other scientists to learn from local experiences and data generated on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, there is a need to integrate additional data sources that map and measure the role of social dynamics of such a unique worldwide event in biomedical, biological, and epidemiological analyses. For this purpose, we present a large-scale curated dataset of over 1.12 billion tweets, growing daily, related to COVID-19 chatter generated from 1 January 2020 to 27 June 2021 at the time of writing. This data source provides a freely available additional data source for researchers worldwide to conduct a wide and diverse number of research projects, such as epidemiological analyses, emotional and mental responses to social distancing measures, the identification of sources of misinformation, stratified measurement of sentiment towards the pandemic in near real time, among many others.

Before adopting a scale for a new culture, researchers should conduct systematic translation procedures and evaluations to ensure its psychometric quality. The Pediatric Symptom Checklist-17 (PSC-17) is a brief and valid scale developed by U.S. researchers to evaluate children's emotional, attentional, and behavioral problems. This study aimed to adapt the PSC-17 to a Chinese version for use in elementary school settings. In this process, 74 teachers rated 666 students using the PSC-17. These students were also assessed using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) and additional questions (e.g., teachers' referral status and demographic information). The scale was successfully translated into simplified Chinese using a standard procedure. Factor analysis supported a general factor model for the PSC-17. Furthermore, decent criterion validity and internal consistency were verified. Finally, a cut-off score of 17 was established, slightly higher than the original cut-off score of 15. We concluded that the PSC-17 is a high-quality screening tool in Chinese elementary schools. The findings are particularly relevant to researchers investigating children's emotional, attentional, and behavioral development within the Chinese cultural context.

Losses, due to their non-Hermitian nature, are generally disregarded or even considered harmful when looking for non-trivial topological phases. Here, the authors experimentally demonstrate that higher-order topology can emerge as a result of introducing losses in an acoustic crystal.

Abstract Background Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a chronic nonspecific inflammatory disease of the colon and rectum with unknown etiology, and its symptoms include bloody diarrhea, abdominal pain, and hematochezia. Traditional Chinese medicine compound has a good therapeutic, multi-target effect on UC. Ganjiang decoction (GD), which is a traditional classic prescription in China, contains Zingiberis Rhizoma, Angelicae Sinensis Radix, Coptidis Rhizoma, Phellodendri Chinensis Cortex, Sanguisorbae Radix, Granati Pericarpium, and Asini Corii Colla and could be used to treat symptoms of UC. This study aimed to conduct a preliminary study before GD colon-targeted preparation, to explore the relationship between extraction method and efficacy of GD. Methods High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was used for the fingerprinting of five preparation methods of GD. HPLC and gas chromatography were used to quantitatively analyze the important chemical components of GD and compare their differences. Mice with UC induced by dextran sulphate sodium salt received the extracts from the five preparation methods of GD via gavage. Disease activity index (DAI) score, colonic length, relative weight of spleen, pathological analysis results, inflammatory factors, therapeutic effect of the five preparation methods of GD, and their relationship with extraction process were compared. Results Cluster analysis revealed that the content of the components extracted by traditional extraction methods was significantly different from the other four methods. The third and fifth preparation methods extracted Coptidis Rhizoma and Phellodendri Chinensis Cortex with 50% ethanol to obtain more alkaloids. In the fourth and fifth methods, more volatile oils were detected by adding Zingiberis Rhizoma and Angelicae Sinensis Radix fine powder. According to DAI score, colonic length, relative weight of spleen, pathological analysis results, and inflammatory factors, the third method showed a good therapeutic effect, while the fifth method had the best therapeutic effect. Conclusions The results showed that the difference of the five extracts of GD in the efficacy of DSS-induced UC in mice was closely related to the extraction method. Our study improved the extraction process of GD and provided a foundation for the process of enteric-soluble preparations and a new idea for traditional Chinese medicine compound preparation.

The adsorption/desorption characteristics of a coal reservoir play an important role in coalbed methane (CBM) development. The proximate analysis, maceral analysis and methane isothermal adsorption/desorption experiment are carried out based on coal samples from no. 4+5 coal seam in Baode block. Combing with coal experimental data and the CBM well-produced water salinity data in the Baode block, the effect of salinity and water content on CBM adsorption/desorption characteristics of the coal reservoir and its influencing mechanism is discussed. The results show that the CBM adsorption and desorption capacity decreases with the increase of water salinity and the decrease value shows a decreasing trend. The increase of water salinity reduces the solubility of methane in coal seam water and then reduces the adsorption capacity of methane. With the increase of water content, the adsorption and desorption capacities of CBM decrease gradually. The CBM adsorption and desorption capacities decrease with the increase of water content in coal samples. The adsorption/desorption capacities of coal samples change rapidly in the low-water content stage and slowly in the high-water content stage. The competitive adsorption effect and water blocking effect between water and methane molecules are the main influencing mechanisms of water content on CBM adsorption/desorption. It can be seen that the salinity and water content will have a certain adverse impact on the adsorption and desorption capacity of CBM in the Baode block. The influence of the difference in water content and salinity in the coal seam cannot be ignored in reserve evaluation and productivity prediction of CBM. The continuous, stable, and effective drainage is one of the key factors to ensure the efficient development of CBM wells in the Baode block.

Soliton microcombs, offering large mode spacing and broad bandwidth, have enabled a variety of advanced applications, particularly for telecommunications, photonic data center, and optical computation. Yet, the absolute power of microcombs remains insufficient, such that optical power amplification is always required. Here, we demonstrate a combined technique to access power-sufficient optical microcombs, with a photonic-integrated soliton microcomb and home-developed erbium-doped gain fiber. The soliton microcomb is generated in an integrated Si3N4 microresonator chip, which serves as a full-wave probing signal for power amplification. After the amplification, more than 40 comb modes, with 115-GHz spacing, reach the onset power level of >−10 dBm, which is readily available for parallel telecommunications , among other applications.

Abstract Background Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a leading cause of severe visual deficits and blindness. Meanwhile, there is convincing evidence implicating oxidative stress, inflammation, and neovascularization in the onset and progression of AMD. Several studies have identified berberine hydrochloride and chrysophanol as potential treatments for ocular diseases based on their antioxidative, antiangiogenic, and anti-inflammatory effects. Unfortunately, their poor stability and bioavailability have limited their application. In order to overcome these disadvantages, we prepared a compound liposome system that can entrap these drugs simultaneously using the third polyamidoamine dendrimer (PAMAM G3.0) as a carrier. Results PAMAM G3.0-coated compound liposomes exhibited appreciable cellular permeability in human corneal epithelial cells and enhanced bio-adhesion on rabbit corneal epithelium. Moreover, coated liposomes greatly improved BBH bioavailability. Further, coated liposomes exhibited obviously protective effects in human retinal pigment epithelial cells and rat retinas after photooxidative retinal injury. Finally, administration of P-CBLs showed no sign of side effects on ocular surface structure in rabbits model. Conclusions The PAMAM G3.0-liposome system thus displayed a potential use for treating various ocular diseases.

Unreasonable application of inorganic nitrogen (N) fertilizer on cherry tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum var. cerasiforme) has resulted in serious environmental threats. The advantages of application of organic manure combined with inorganic N fertilizer for vegetable production systems have been reported widely, but there are still few studies on cherry tomato production. Therefore, this study aims to determine the impact of a combined application of organic manure (in form of chicken manure at different application rate of 0 and 40 t ha−1) with inorganic N fertilizer (in form of urea at various N application rates of 0, 160 and 320 kg N ha−1) on the fruit yield and quality of cherry tomato across two seasons. Results showed that inorganic N application exhibited positive effects on fruit yield and its associated components of cherry tomato. However, there was no significant difference in terms of fruit yield and its associated components between the two N rates of inorganic N (160 and 320 kg N ha−1), indicating that fruit yield is not improved significantly when the N application rate exceeds some threshold. Under chicken manure application treatments, however, an increased N rate did not show a positive effect on fruit yield. Importantly, chicken manure application has greatly increased fruit yield and fruit quality (represented by membership function indicator) by 43% and 23%, respectively in comparison with zero manure application. In particular, the soluble protein and titratable acid were increased by 124% and 118%, respectively. Overall, these results suggested that chemical N fertilizers could be largely replaced with chicken manure. Furthermore, the combined application of organic with inorganic N fertilizers seems to be a promising management practice for reducing the reliance on use of inorganic N fertilizer, while mitigating the environmental burden for cherry tomato production.

A high realism of avatars is beneficial for virtual reality experiences such as avatar-mediated communication and embodiment. Previous work, however, suggested that the usage of realistic virtual faces can lead to unexpected and undesired effects, including phenomena like the uncanny valley. This work investigates the role of photographic and behavioral realism of avatars with animated facial expressions on perceived realism and congruence ratings. More specifically, we examine ratings of photographic and behavioral realism and their mismatch in differently created avatar faces. Furthermore, we utilize these avatars to investigate the effect of behavioral realism on perceived congruence between video-recorded physical person’s expressions and their imitations by the avatar. We compared two types of avatars, both with four identities that were created from the same facial photographs. The first type of avatars contains expressions that were designed by an artistic expert. The second type contains expressions that were statistically learned from a 3D facial expression database. Our results show that the avatars containing learned facial expressions were rated more photographically and behaviorally realistic and possessed a lower mismatch between the two dimensions. They were also perceived as more congruent to the video-recorded physical person’s expressions. We discuss our findings and the potential benefit of avatars with learned facial expressions for experiences in virtual reality and future research on enfacement.

We analyse the direction of the energy revolution from the dimensions of cleanness, electrification, intelligence, and ubiquity. Based on this, we highlight the importance of electricity in the Energy Internet and analyse the challenges faced by the development of the power grid. Then, we propose an electricity-centered energy comprehensive optimization model and set up baseline scenario and carbon neutral scenario, to achieve a systematic simulation of the path of Energy Internet to boost energy transition. The results show that the Energy Internet accelerates the process of clean energy supply, effectively promotes the development of the energy transition, and contributes to the realization of the carbon neutral goal. There are still many problems in the development of the Energy Internet. In order to accelerate the transformation of the energy system and the power industry, it is necessary to establish a sound energy policy system, encourage clean energy consumption, and use the construction of the Energy Internet to achieve optimal allocation of resources.

To analyze the risk factors influencing the crash injury severity in rural-urban fringes, crash data in rural-urban fringes were collected from Harbin, China. Four risk factors, namely, time of day, vehicle type, road feature, and crash type, were investigated associated with the severity of rural-urban fringe crashes. The crash injury severity was divided into two categories, including fatal and nonfatal crash. The logistic regression was applied to explore the relationships between the severity outcomes and time of day, vehicle type, road feature, and crash type. The test methods of goodness-of-fit and badness-of-fit are conducted to examine the validity of estimation results. The results show considerable matching of the number of different crash types between calculated results and actual data. Compared with the other influencing factors, the time of day is significant factor for crash injury severity based on the study. As such, the proposed calibration procedure and the factors of choice are recommended as a validated approach to analyze and identify the main factors influencing crash injury severity in rural-urban fringes.

Sediments with organic matter content (total organic carbon) TOC ≤ 0.5% which can act as effective source rocks are critical and challenging in the field of petroleum geology. A new method is proposed through a case study to identify and evaluate the effective source rocks, which is applied to study the changing characteristic of hydrocarbon-generation potential index with depth. The burial depth corresponding to the beginning of hydrocarbon-generation potential index reduction represents the hydrocarbon expulsion threshold in source rocks. Then, new identification standards are established for discrimination of effective source rocks of Middle–Upper Ordovician in Tarim Basin. The critical value of TOC for effective source rocks change with their burial depth: the TOC > 0.5% with source rock depth > 4000 m, TOC > 0.4% with depth >4500 m, TOC > 0.3% with depth > 5000 m, TOC > 0.2% with depth >5500 m. Based on the new criteria, effective source rocks in the Middle–Upper Ordovician are identified and their total potential hydrocarbon resources is evaluated, reaches 0.68 × 10 9 t in the Tazhong area, which is 65.4% higher than that of previous studies and consistent with the exploration result. Thus, this new method is of significance to resource evaluation and can be applied in the carbonate source rocks and mudstone source rocks with high degree of exploration.

Ginseng (Panax ginseng C.A. Mey.) is a precious Chinese traditional medicine, for which ginsenosides are the most important medicinal ingredients. Cytochrome P450 enzymes (CYP450) and their primary redox molecular companion NADPH cytochrome P450 reductase (CPR) play a key role in ginsenoside biosynthesis pathway. However, systematic studies of CPR genes in ginseng have not been reported. Numerous studies on ginsenoside synthesis biology still use Arabidopsis CPR (AtCPR1) as a reductase. In this study, we isolated two CPR genes (PgCPR1, PgCPR2) from ginseng adventitious roots. Phylogenetic tree analysis showed that both PgCPR1 and PgCPR2 are grouped in classⅡ of dicotyledonous CPR. Enzyme experiments showed that recombinant proteins PgCPR1, PgCPR2 and AtCPR1 can reduce cytochrome c and ferricyanide with NADPH as the electron donor, and PgCPR1 had the highest enzymatic activities. Quantitative real-time PCR analysis showed that PgCPR1 and PgCPR2 transcripts were detected in all examined tissues of Panax ginseng and both showed higher expression in stem and main root. Expression levels of the PgCPR1 and PgCPR2s were both induced after a methyl jasmonate (MeJA) treatment and its pattern matched with ginsenoside accumulation. The present investigation suggested PgCPR1 and PgCPR2 are associated with the biosynthesis of ginsenoside. This report will assist in future CPR family studies and ultimately improving ginsenoside production through transgenic engineering and synthetic biology.

We demonstrate a conformally mapped multifunctional acoustic metamaterial Mikaelian lens. Mikaelian lens is a gradient medium with a hyperbolic secant refractive index profile that can realize functions like beam self-focusing. Unlike the conventional design approaches, with a conformal transformation method, only isotropic material parameters with gradient refractive index profiles are required for the construction of such lens. To realize desired gradient index distribution, we carefully design a new type of cross-channel-shaped acoustic metamaterial, whose refractive index can be effectively modulated by simply changing the slit opening size. The distinct capabilities of the metamaterial Mikaelian lens in manipulating acoustic waves are experimentally verified with the fabricated sample. Simultaneous sound guiding and Talbot effects, which normally require respective geometrical and wave acoustic approximations, are observed in simulations and experiments. Furthermore, those effects of shaping acoustic wave propagations were validated within a relatively wide frequency range. Our study reveals how the conformal transformation method can help to bridge the ray acoustics with wave acoustics. It offers opportunities to the development of novel multifunctional acoustic devices for various applications, such as sound and particle manipulations.

Metasurface-based acoustic wave-front manipulation with broad bandwidth and low transmission loss shows great significance in high-intensity applications such as ultrasonic therapy, acoustic tweezers, and haptics. By taking advantage of the helical-structured metamaterials and their concentrically layered arrangement, we present a systematic strategy to construct two-dimensional transmissive acoustic metasurfaces that possess matched impedance to the background medium and simple governing parameters. As a proof of concept, a concentrically layered circular metalens supporting conversion from spherical wave to plane wave is designed and experimentally demonstrated. It is capable of operating in more than one octave band with high transmission. This work could inspire more intriguing and flexible designs in three-dimensional wave control, which may enhance the practicality of acoustic metasurfaces.

The MYB transcription factor family members have been reported to play different roles in plant growth regulation, defense response, and secondary metabolism. However, MYB gene expression has not been reported in Panax ginseng. In this study, we isolated a gene from ginseng adventitious root, PgMYB2, which encodes an R2R3-MYB protein. Subcellular localization revealed that PgMYB2 protein was exclusively detected in the nucleus of Allium cepa epidermis. The highest expression level of PgMYB2 was found in ginseng root and it was significantly induced by plant hormones methyl jasmonate (MeJA). Furthermore, the binding interaction between PgMYB2 protein and the promoter of dammarenediol synthase (DDS) was found in the yeast strain Y1H Gold. Moreover, the electrophoretic mobility shift assay (EMSA) identified the binding site of the interaction and the results of transiently overexpressing PgMYB2 in plants also illustrated that it may positively regulate the expression of PgDDS. Based on the key role of PgDDS gene in ginsenoside synthesis, it is reasonable to believe that this report will be helpful for the future studies on the MYB family in P. ginseng and ultimately improving the ginsenoside production through genetic and metabolic engineering.

In this paper, by the use of weight functions and the technique of real analysis, a new Hilbert-type integral inequality with a general nonhomogeneous kernel as H(xv(y)) is given. A few equivalent statements related to the best possible constant factor and parameters are considered. As applications, the equivalent forms, the operator expressions and some corollaries are obtained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]