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Visual comparison is a key process in everyday learning and reasoning. Recent research has discovered the spatial alignment principle, based on the broader framework of structure-mapping theory in comparison. According to the spatial alignment principle, visual comparison is more efficient when the figures being compared are arranged in "direct placement"--that is, juxtaposed with parallel structural axes. In this placement, (1) the intended relational correspondences are readily apparent, and (2) the influence of potential competing correspondences is minimized. There is evidence for the spatial alignment principle in adults' visual comparison (Matlen et al., 2020). Here, we test whether it holds for children. Six- and eight-year-old children performed a same-different task over visual pairs. The results indicated that direct placement led to faster and more accurate comparison, both for concrete same-different matches (matches of both objects and relations) and for purely relational matches--evidence that the same structural alignment process holds for visual comparison in 6- and 8-year-olds as in adults. These findings have implications for learning and education.

Visual comparison is used in education to convey important commonalties and differences. This process is more effective when the figures are spatially aligned so that the corresponding parts and relations are maximally clear (direct placement) (Matlen, Gentner, & Franconeri, 2020). Yet science textbooks often fail to follow this principle arranging figures meant to be compared (Jee et al., in prep)—perhaps in service of visual appeal. To explore whether this choice in fact maximizes visual appeal, we gave middle-school students illustrations characteristic of textbook figures, along with modified versions that followed direct placement principles. Students were significantly more likely to choose the direct placement version when given the goal of helping other students see differences among the figures (M=94%), than when given the goal to make the figure “look nice” (M=61%). These findings suggest that direct placements improve the educational value of a figure without sacrificing its aesthetic appeal.

Visual comparison is a key process in everyday learning.Matlen et al. (2020) recently proposed the Spatial AlignmentPrinciple, based on the broader work of structure-mappingtheory in comparison. According to the principle, visualcomparison is more efficient when pairs are arranged in directplacement: i.e., so that the visuals are juxtaposed orthogonallyto their structural axes. In this placement (a) the intendedrelational correspondences are readily apparent, and (b) theinfluence of potential competing correspondences isminimized. Thus, this placement should make the relationalalignment maximally easy to notice. The results of a same-different task in adults supported this claim. The current studyasks whether the Spatial Alignment Principle applies inchildren’s visual comparison. 6-year-old children performed asame-different task for visual relational patterns. The resultsindicated that direct placement led to faster and more accuratecomparison, both for concrete same-different matches(matches of both objects and relations) and for purely relationalmatches.

Objective: To investigate the impact of postresection intra-arterial chemotherapy (IAC) on prognosis of stage 2–3 gallbladder cancer (GBC) after curative resection. Methods: Between May 2010 and August 2014, 76 cases of GBC accepted curative surgery in our center and were pathologically staged as 2–3. After resection, 37 underwent 4 courses of intravenous chemotherapy (IVC) following 2 courses of IAC (ART group), and 39 received 6 courses of IVC (SYS group). Both the IAC and IVC regimens consisted of oxaliplatin (85 mg/m2) on day 1 and gemcitabine (800 mg/m2) on day 1 and day 8. Chemotherapy-related complications, disease-free survival (DFS), overall survival (OS), and hepatic metastases-free survival (HMFS) were retrospectively analyzed. Results: Patient characteristics and chemotherapy complications did not differ between the two groups. There was no significant difference in 3-year DFS of the two groups (p=0.0822, HR=0.6270; 95% CI, 0.3627 to 1.0838). The ART group had significantly higher 3-year OS (p=0.0378, HR=0.5460; 95% CI, 0.3025 to 0.9856) and 3-year HMFS (p=0.0414, HR=0.5187; 95% CI, 0.2706 to 0.9940) than the SYS group. Conclusions: IAC could effectively and safely decrease postresection hepatic metastases and improve 3-year HMFS and OS of stage 2–3 GBC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ammonia (NH 3 ) is an indispensable feedstock for fertilizer production and one of the most ideal green hydrogen rich fuel. Electrochemical nitrate (NO 3 - ) reduction reaction (NO 3 - RR) is being explored as a promising strategy for green to synthesize industrial-scale NH 3 , which has nonetheless involved complex multi-reaction process. This work presents a Pd-doped Co 3 O 4 nanoarray on titanium mesh (Pd-Co 3 O 4 /TM) electrode for highly efficient and selective electrocatalytic NO 3 - RR to NH 3 at low onset potential. The well-designed Pd-Co 3 O 4 /TM delivers a large NH 3 yield of 745.6 µmol h -1 cm -2 and an extremely high Faradaic efficiency (FE) of 98.7% at -0.3 V with strong stability. These calculations further indicate that the doping Co 3 O 4 with Pd improves the adsorption characteristic of Pd-Co 3 O 4 and optimizes the free energies for intermediates, thereby facilitating the kinetics of the reaction. Furthermore, assembling this catalyst in a Zn-NO 3 - battery realizes a power density of 3.9 mW cm -2 and an excellent FE of 98.8% for NH 3 ., (© 2023 Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

Synthesis of green ammonia (NH 3 ) via electrolysis of nitric oxide (NO) is extraordinarily sustainable, but multielectron/proton-involved hydrogenation steps as well as low concentrations of NO can lead to poor activities and selectivities of electrocatalysts. Herein, it is reported that oxygen-defective TiO 2 nanoarray supported on Ti plate (TiO 2- x /TP) behaves as an efficient catalyst for NO reduction to NH 3 . In 0.2 m phosphate-buffered electrolyte, such TiO 2- x /TP shows competitive electrocatalytic NH 3 synthesis activity with a maximum NH 3 yield of 1233.2 µg h -1  cm -2 and Faradaic efficiency of 92.5%. Density functional theory calculations further thermodynamically faster NO deoxygenation and protonation processes on TiO 2- x (101) compared to perfect TiO 2 (101). And the low energy barrier of 0.7 eV on TiO 2- x (101) for the potential-determining step further highlights the greatly improved intrinsic activity. In addition, a Zn-NO battery is fabricated with TiO 2- x /TP and Zn plate to obtain an NH 3 yield of 241.7 µg h -1  cm -2 while providing a peak power density of 0.84 mW cm -2 ., (© 2023 Wiley-VCH GmbH.)