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Objective Molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) has been developed for medical uses due to its excellent medically beneficial characteristics. This research was designed to develop a multifunctional nano-drug delivery system based on the nano-structure of MoS2 for combined chemo/gene/photothermal therapy targeting multidrug-resistant cancer. Methods MoS2 nanosheets were prepared by a hydrothermal reaction and modified. Afterward, the nanocarrier was characterised. In vitro cytotoxicity of the drug delivery systems on human breast adenocarcinoma cell lines was assessed. Key findings The nanocarrier was a flake-like structure with a uniform hydrodynamic diameter and possessing good colloidal stability. The nanocarrier showed the capacity to be deployed for co-delivery of Doxorubicin (DOX) and siRNA. The release of DOX could be triggered and enhanced by pH and application of near-infrared (NIR) laser. The nanocarrier had a good photothermic response and stability. The nanocarrier had little effect on the cells and exhibited good biocompatibility. Measurement of the therapeutic efficacy showed that synergistic therapy combining chemo-, gene- and photothermal therapy deploying this drug delivery system will achieve a better anticancer effect on drug-resistant cancer cells than DOX alone. Conclusions Our results suggest that this drug delivery system has potential application in the therapeutic strategy for drug-resistant cancer.

To investigate the effect of the vertical effective and initial static shear stresses on cyclic resistance under cyclic loading with principal stress rotation, a series of cyclic direct simple shear tests were conducted on loose and dense Nakdong River sands. The results revealed that the increasing vertical effective stress (σ′v0) often decreased the cyclic resistance, and the decrease was more evident for a high initial static shear ratio (α = 0.2). The degree of reduction of the correction factor Kσ predicted by recommended methods in practice mostly showed more conservative results than the measured Kσ values in this study. Increasing the initial static shear stress decreased the cyclic resistance of the loose sand. For the dense sand, the cyclic resistance either increased or decreased, depending on the combined effect of the σ′v0 and α levels. The correction factor Kα decreased minimally to 0.689 for the loose sand and rose maximally to 1.175 for the dense sand. When the relative density (Dr) increased from 40% to 80%, the increase in the cyclic resistance for a high α (=0.2) was considerably greater than that for α = 0. The cyclic response of the loose sand was due to sudden flow deformation without any apparent shear strain accumulation, regardless of the α value; while the cyclic response of the dense sand indicated plastic strain accumulation. Thus, the cyclic resistance of sand is influenced by the combined effect of Dr, σ′v0, and α, with the potential influence of principal stress rotation.

Online review is powerful in influencing tourists’ travel decision. However, understanding of how online reviews affect tourist emotion and decision at the post-trip stage is limited. The present study examines whether encountering travel experiences shared on social media by other users with disparity in the cost of same accommodation after a trip will cause regret and alter the intention to revisit from a retrospective point of view. Drawing from the experimental study, the result showed that regret mediates the negative effect of comparison discrepancy (in the case of differences in the paid room rate) on intention to stay in the hotel again. The current study of the effects of social comparison on revisit intention adds to the literature and establishes the groundwork for future scholarly work on post-trip online review management. Meaningful implications and strategies are recommended to online review platform and hotel marketing management.

On 15 November 2017, an earthquake with a magnitude of 5.4 caused geotechnical damage over a wide area of Pohang, South Korea. In this study, the UBCSAND constitutive effective stress model is calibrated by cyclic direct simple shear (CDSS) tests conducted on a type of sand from liquefied paddy fields at Pohang under confining stresses of 100 and 200 kPa. The calibrated UBCSAND model is then used to assess the liquefaction and calculate the ground settlement based on standard penetration test (SPT) data near the epicenter of the Pohang earthquake. The liquefaction characteristics from the UBCSAND model matched those from laboratory tests. According to the numerical results, liquefaction mostly occurred within the uppermost 10 m, and ground surface settlement from excess pore water pressure dissipation varied from 3.86 to 10.95 cm. These settlements were higher than the surface displacement estimated by satellite image analysis with interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) and lower than the ground subsidence observed solely by visiting the sites.

In this study, a transferrin/folic acid double-targeting graphene oxide drug delivery system loaded with doxorubicin was designed. Graphene oxide was prepared by ultrasound improved Hummers method and was modified with Pluronic F68, folic acid, and transferrin to decrease its toxicity and to allow dual-targeting. The results show that the double target drug delivery system (TFGP*DOX) has good and controllable drug delivery performance with no toxicity. Moreover, TFGP*DOX has a better inhibitory effect on SMMC-7721 cells than does a single target drug delivery system (FGP*DOX). The results of drug release analysis and cell inhibition studies showed that TFGP*DOX has a good sustained release function that can reduce the drug release rate in blood circulation over time and improve the local drug concentration in or near a targeted tumor. Therefore, the drug loading system (TFGP*DOX) has potential application value in the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma.

Graphene Oxide, prepared by the modified Hummer's method, was modified with a series of high polymers (polyethyleneimine, polyethylene glycol, chitosan) and Folic Acid for the delivery of platinum anticancer drugs including Cisplatin, Carboplatin, Oxaliplatin and Eptaplatin. Nanocarriers were successfully prepared and characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscope. Measurement of drug loading efficiency showed that these nanocarriers had the ability for effective delivery of the platinum anticancer drugs. The Maximum loading ratios of Cisplatin, Carboplatin, Oxaliplatin and Eptaplatin were 25.72, 161.08, 345.21 and 67.80 μg/mg. Drug release experiments in the acid environment showed that the cumulative release rate of platinum anticancer drugs from nanocarriers was higher than that in the neutral environment. The cumulative release of all three nanocarriers in the acid environment reached above 60%. In vitro cytotoxicity assay showed that those nanocarriers had a low toxicity. The cell viability rates were above 80% for all three nanocarriers. Investigation of the anticancer activity in vitro showed that those drug delivery systems had the ability to inhibit the growth of the SKOV3 cell line. These results showed that those nanocarriers were suitable for the delivery of platinum anticancer drugs. Providing preliminary advice on the potential application of the combination of platinum anticancer drugs and the functionalized Graphene Oxide nanocarriers.

Segmentation of gamblers is useful for understanding their distinctive characteristics and enforcing customized measures in harm minimization work. Previous research has commonly adopted gambling motivation and involvement as segmentation criteria. However, these criteria are less identifiable through observation. Gambling forms, used in recent gambling segmentation research, are more observable, facilitating the prevention and treatment work of governments and practitioners, as the identified segments have distinctive gambling disorder symptoms. As gambling is widespread in the Chinese population and little is known about this ethnic group in terms of gambling form segments, latent class analysis was used to classify 855 Chinese gamblers in Macau based on their participation in 11 gambling forms in the previous 12 months. The analysis identified three distinct segments: casino gamblers, lottery gamblers, and sociable gamblers. Socio-demographic differences between the three segments were revealed. Casino gamblers, compared with their counterparts, were more likely to have DSM-V symptoms, particularly escape and bailouts. Lottery gamblers and sociable gamblers only differed in one symptom, the latter having a higher probability of chasing their losses. Based on these results, Macau policymakers are advised to prioritize their harm minimization measures such as requiring casinos to provide training to workers to help to identify gambling disorder symptoms and that workers should intervene when the symptoms of escape and bailouts were identified from the gamblers. Special attention should be given to Macau casino gamblers who are male, unemployed, or with highest education of high school diploma.

The nature of the online environment makes it difficult for individuals to verify their safety and to identify latent risks in online activities. This limits website users' ability to take appropriate security precautions. Websites use various features and functions supported by computer‐based media technologies to communicate and interact with users to achieve business success. Most website features research has previously focused solely on e‐commerce websites, leaving a knowledge gap in terms of website feature design and its impact in a broader context. An investigation applying a descriptive auditing method was undertaken on 50 Australian‐based websites from 10 categories to identify social cues presented to users. A website feature strategic emphasis framework was applied. Results generated a list of 48 unique features with social cues and highlighted their usage, which may influence decision‐making across website categories. Without comprehensive user protection for these design features, website visitors may not be aware of potential consequences. This research enriches understanding of potential features with social cues that may influence decision‐making and provides a foundation for online environment feature design regulation. Through identifying potential social and environmental cues in website features, this study will guide future studies in assessing websites' impact on online risk‐taking behavior and further contribute to online risk‐taking prevention. This work was supported by an Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Research Award (DE1060100459) awarded to S.G.

Chemically induced calcium carbonate precipitation (CCP) using calcium hydroxide (CH) and carbon dioxide (CO₂) was employed to clean sand for improving its strength. Joomunjin sand was mixed with 2% CH and 10% water, and then cured in a CO₂ chamber under 100 or 200 kPa for 2 h. The treatments were repeated 1, 5, and 10 times. At the last treatment cycle, the treated sand was compacted into a mold for testing. A series of unconfined compression and direct shear tests were conducted on the treated sand to evaluate the effects of the CCP on the strength of the clean sand. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) analysis were performed to evaluate the CCP and microstructure of the treated sand. The experimental results indicated that the effect of change in the CO₂ chamber pressure on the calcium carbonate content (CCC) was insignificant due to the low pressures applied. As the number of treatments increased from 1 to 10, the CCC increased from 2% to 23%, resulting in increases of the unconfined compressive strength (UCS), and friction angle of treated sand. The efficiency of converting CH to CaCO₃ reached 87% after 10 cycles. The UCS increased from 51 to 364 kPa as the number of treatments increased from 1 to 10. The friction angle and cohesion of clean sand also increased from 32° and 0 kPa to 49° and 53 kPa, respectively. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

In this study, the formation of artificial Calcium Carbonate (CaCO3) from the reaction between Calcium Hydroxide (CH) and Carbon Dioxide (CO2) was taken into account to improve sand properties. Firstly, Jumunjin sand was mixed with 2% of CH and water at a constant water-solid weight ratio of 0.1 before curing in a carbon dioxide chamber. The precipitated calcite content was investigated by the variation of CO2 chamber pressure and number of repeatable treatment. Then, unconfined compression tests of such samples were carried out to evaluate the influence of calcite content on mechanical properties of sand. It indicated that as increasing of repeatable treatment, the UCS of treated sand increased due to the higher of calcite precipitation. The first and fifth cycle do not lead to any significant variations of precipitated calcium carbonate content (CCC) and unconfined compressive strength (UCS) with the change of carbon dioxide chamber pressure from 100 kPa to 200 kPa, but- the higher CCC and UCS can be seen clearly at the tenth cycle. After 10 treated cycles, the UCS of CP1.10 and CP2.10 were 5 times greater than CP1.1 and CP2.1, respectively. The maximum UCS was 361 kPa of CP2.10 specimen. The stress-strain curves obtained from UCS test at 200 kPa CO2 gas pressure exhibited more strain at peak stress than that at 100 kPa and the samples subjected to 10 treated cycles has more ductile behavior than other samples.

Due to increased requirements for precision cancer treatment, cancer chemotherapy and combination therapies have gradually developed in the direction of diagnosis and treatment integration. In this study, a non-toxic nano carrier that demonstrates integrated MRI signal enhancing performance, as well as better chemotherapy and photothermal conversion performance, was prepared and characterized. Furthermore, the carrier was used to construct an integrated system of tumor diagnosis and treatment. Our in vitro studies showed that this system has a considerable inhibition effect on tumor cells during the treatment of chemotherapy when combined with PTT, and in vivo studies showed that the system could improve the MRI signal of the tumor site with application of a safe dosage. Thus, this system based on NGO/USPIO has the potential to be a multi-functional nano drug delivery system integrating diagnosis and treatment benefits and applications that are worthy of further research.

Coupon promotion is widespread in the fast casual restaurant sector. As monetary saving offered in the coupons is costly to suppliers, this study examines: (1) if the provision of choice of non-monetary incentive can substitute high monetary saving in their positive influences on consumers’ redemption intention; and (2) if the substitution effect is contingent on consumers’ level of price consciousness. Drawing from three experimental studies, the results consistently showed that offering choice of non-monetary incentive was effective in increasing consumers’ redemption intention through enhancing their attitude towards the coupon promotion. The effect of offering choice of non-monetary incentive substituted that of high monetary saving, but the substitution effect was merely salient among low price-conscious consumers while the floodlight analysis revealed the point that bifurcates high (versus low) level of price consciousness. The findings add knowledge to the sales promotion and hospitality literature. Meaningful implications are recommended for fast casual restauranteurs.

Self-exclusion is an important harm minimization strategy implemented by gambling operators to restrict a problem gambler’s access to gambling opportunities. Aspects of self-exclusion, including low uptake and non-compliance, limit the effectiveness of programs. Research that considers the consumer perspective is needed to enhance the perceived utility of self-exclusion in the target audience. Twenty interviews were conducted with current (n = 13) and former (n = 7) participants of a multi-venue self-exclusion program for land-based gaming machine venues in New South Wales, Australia. Participants were asked open-ended questions about their experiences and opinions of the program, including its strengths and weaknesses, and suggested improvements for future consumers. Overall, participants found self-exclusion beneficial. However, several shortcomings of the program were expressed, including lack of available public information and overly complicated registration processes. Participants lacked confidence in venues’ willingness and ability to identify non-compliant gamblers and highlighted the need for vastly improved detection systems. The quality of interactions with venue staff in relation to self-exclusion were mixed; counsellor support, however, was perceived as important from beginning to end of a self-exclusion period. Results suggest that gambling operators should increase marketing efforts to promote the availability and benefits of self-exclusion. Investigation of strategies to streamline registration processes and to augment detection systems with new technologies was supported. Venue staff may benefit from training in appropriate self-exclusion facilitation procedures. Gambling operators should aim to foster strong links between self-exclusion programs and professional gambling counselling services.Résumé L’auto-exclusion est une importante stratégie de minimisation des méfaits mise en œuvre par les exploitants de jeux d’argent afin de limiter l’accès des joueurs pathologiques aux occasions de jeu. Certains aspects de l’auto-exclusion, notamment la faible participation et la non-conformité, limitent toutefois l’efficacité des programmes. Des recherches tenant compte de la perspective du joueur sont nécessaires pour renforcer l’utilité perçue de l’auto-exclusion auprès du public cible. Vingt entretiens ont été menés auprès de participants actuels (n = 13) et anciens (n = 7) d’un programme d’auto-exclusion multi-sites pour les salles de jeux de hasard en Nouvelle-Galles-du-Sud, en Australie. On a posé aux participants des questions ouvertes sur leurs expériences et leurs opinions sur le programme, y compris ses forces et ses faiblesses, et sur des améliorations à apporter pour les futurs participants. Dans l’ensemble, les participants ont trouvé le programme d’auto-exclusion bénéfique. Toutefois, plusieurs lacunes du programme ont été signalées, notamment le manque d’informations disponibles dans le public et des processus d’inscription excessivement compliqués. Les participants manquaient de confiance en la volonté et la capacité des propriétaires de sites d’identifier les joueurs non conformes, et ils ont souligné la nécessité d’améliorer considérablement les systèmes de détection. La qualité des interactions avec le personnel des lieux concernant l’auto-exclusion était mitigée; le soutien des conseillers a toutefois été perçu comme important du début à la fin de la période d’auto-exclusion. Les résultats laissent croire que les exploitants de jeux d’argent devraient intensifier leurs efforts de publicité pour promouvoir la disponibilité et les avantages de programmes d’auto-exclusion. La recherche de stratégies visant à rationaliser les processus d’inscription et à améliorer les systèmes de détection par de nouvelles technologies a été encouragée. Les membres du personnel des sites peuvent bénéficier d’une formation sur les procédures appropriées de facilitation pour l’auto-exclusion. Les exploitants de jeux devraient s’efforcer d’établir des liens étroits entre les programmes d’auto-exclusion et les services de conseillers professionnels en matière de jeu.

The frequency of ground motions during earthquakes is typically in the order of a few hertz. As the earthquake-induced liquefaction of soils is widely assessed by performing laboratory tests, it is necessary to consider various loading frequencies generated by real earthquakes. The effect of loading frequency has been studied by cyclic triaxial tests, however, it has rarely been investigated by cyclic direct simple shear tests, which are more similar to the cyclic loading conditions associated with earthquakes. In this study, a series of cyclic direct simple shear tests were performed on clean sand with a relative density (Dr) of 40% (loose sand) and 80% (dense sand), obtained from Nakdong River. The parameters considered are the initial vertical effective stresses (&sigma, v0&prime, = 50, 100, and 200 kPa) and the loading frequencies (f = 0.05, 0.1, 0.5, and 1 Hz) to evaluate the effect of the loading frequency on the liquefaction prediction of clean sand. The results showed that the liquefaction resistance of the sand increases with the increase in the loading frequency, regardless of the initial vertical effective stress and relative density. When the loading frequency increased from 0.1 to 0.5 or 1 Hz, the maximum increase in the cyclic resistances were 15%, and 19% for loose and dense sand, respectively. For a given loading frequency, the liquefaction resistance of the sand decreased when the initial vertical effective stress increased.

Cancer cell therapy using redox response and targeted drug delivery systems can increase therapeutic effects of anti-cancer therapy. Here, we report a redox-responsive drug carrier based on nanoscale Graphene Oxide (GO) loaded with Doxorubicin (DOX). In this drug carrier demonstration, we utilized Arginine-glycine-aspartic acid (RGD) peptide, aminated polyethylene glycol (6ARM-PEG-NH2, PEG-NH2) to functionalize the GO. To integrate the carrier with a redox responsive property, we utilized disulfide linkages (3,3′-dithiodipropionic acid (DTPA)), which can be cleaved by glutathione (GSH) combined with the PEG-NH2. Our results show that DOX is rapidly released in a pH = 5.50 PBS solution with GSH concentration of 10 mM. The drug-loading system (RGD-GO-PEG-S-S-DOX) combined with photo-thermotherapy possesses good inhibition activity of Hep-G2 cells at a relatively low concentration. When the concentration of RGD-GO-PEG-S-S-DOX was 1.56 μg/mL, the inhibition activity of Hep-G2 cells was 78%. Because tumor cells generally exhibit a higher concentration of GSH than normal ones, and tumor blood vessels are distorted and dilated, and the blood flow resistance tends to be large, tumor cells are more sensitive to temperature changes than normal tissues. Thus, drug delivery systems, like the one we studied, have potential applications in a therapeutic strategy for the treatment of liver cancer.

When a slope failure or a debris flow occurs, a shear strength on failure plane becomes nearly zero and soil begins to flow like a non-cohesive liquid. A consistency of cohesive soils changes as a water content increases. Even a cohesive soil existing at liquid limit state has a small amount of shear strength. In this study, a water content, at which a shear strength of cohesive soils is zero and then cohesive soils will start to flow, was proposed. Three types of clays (kaolinite, bentonite and kaolinite (50%)+bentonite (50%)) were mixed with three different solutions (distilled water, sea water and microbial solution) at liquid limit state and then their water contents were increased step by step. Then, their undrained shear strength was measured using a portable vane shear device called Torvane. The ranges of undrained shear strength at liquid and plastic limits are 3.6-9.2 kPa and 24-45 kPa, respectively. On the other hand, the water content that corresponds to the value of the undrained shear strength changing most rapidly is called flow water content. The flow limit refers to the water content when undrained shear strength of cohesive soils is zero. In order to investigate the relationship between liquid limit and flow limit, the cohesive index was defined as a value of the difference between flow limit and liquid limit. The new plasticity index was defined as the value of difference between flow limit and plastic limit. The new liquidity index was also defined using flow limit. The values of flow limit are 1.5-2 times higher than those of liquid limit. At the same time, the values of new plasticity index are 2-5.5 times higher than those of original plasticity index.

Small amount of salt and various microorganisms are contained in natural soils or clays near the shore. In this study, most common clay minerals such as kaolinite and bentonite are used to evaluate the effect of salt and microorganism on liquid and plastic limits. The effect of time after mixing clays with water was also investigated for the consistency limits of clays. The test was conducted immediately, 1 day, or 7 days after mixing soils. For liquid limit tests two different test methods were used, the percussion cup method by Casagrande and the fall cone method. When sea water or microbial solution was used for mixing soils rather than distilled water, the liquid limit of kaolinite decreased by 6-15% and that of bentonite further decreased up to 37-53%. The liquid limit obtained from the fall cone method was approximately 10% for bentonite and 20% for kaolinite, which are higher than those from the percussion cup method. The effect of time on liquid and plastic limits was significant for those tested immediately or 1 day later but the values obtained after 1 day or 7 days did not vary a lot, regardless of soils, mixing waters or test methods.