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Species-level identification and differentiation of deer antlers using ATR-FTIR spectroscopy and chemometrics
New insights into the feeding behaviour of the Japanese squid Todarodes pacificus paralarvae, and a combined analysis of metagenome and amino acid isotope ratios
The Japanese flying squid Todarodes pacificus (Ommastrephidae) is a commercially and ecologically important species; however, there remains much room for investigation in its early life phase, especially its diet in wild environments. After excising the digestive gland (cecum sac) of wild paralarvae of T. pacificus using Laser Microdissection (LMD), the dietary species were estimated via metagenomic analysis. The 16S rRNA analysis predominantly detected Burkholderiales and Xanthomonadales , regardless of mantle length (ML) of T. pacificus and capture area. COI (Cytochrome c oxidase subunit I) analysis detected in various organisms including Discosea, Arthropoda, Nemertea, Porifera, golden algae, and fungi (Ascomycota and Basidiomycota), which were found irregularly. About half of the paralarval cecum sacs were found empty during the histological analysis. We also estimated the trophic position (TP) of wild paralarvae in the same sea region via stable isotope analysis of amino acids. The TP estimated was 3.0 for all larval groups regardless of ML, suggesting that the trophic tendency of paralarvae is carnivorous, likely feeding on herbivorous organisms. Taken together, our results suggest that the paralarvae feed mostly on various kinds of living herbivorous organisms and partly on detritus.
Plasma-induced symmetric ambipolar transport in MoS2/WSe2 p–n heterojunctions via stacking-order-mediation
Ambipolar semiconductors based on two-dimensional p–n junctions have attracted significant attention and are driving optoelectronic and logic circuit applications. However, their low carrier mobility and electron–hole mobility asymmetry (>101) result in poor signal resolution, which limits its practical applications. This study demonstrates high-mobility and mobility-symmetric ambipolar transport in MoS2/WSe2 p–n heterojunctions through precise oxygen plasma-mediated interface engineering. The mild oxygen plasma treatment simultaneously passivates selenium vacancies in WSe2 and sulfur vacancies in MoS2, thereby reducing scattering centers and optimizing carrier concentrations. The elevated and balanced carrier concentrations on both sides of the junction effectively lower the tunneling barrier, facilitating efficient charge injection and enabling high-performance ambipolar conduction. Analysis of the charge transport mechanism reveals a direct tunneling mode at the heterointerface. By applying a 6 s low-power soft oxygen plasma treatment to MoS2 and a 30 s oxygen plasma to WSe2, the device exhibits a more than two orders of magnitude improvement in electrical performance, demonstrating symmetric ambipolar behavior with a hole mobility of 83 cm2 V−1 s−1 and an electron mobility of 42 cm2 V−1 s−1, respectively. This work establishes plasma-induced design principles for high-performance ambipolar transistors and provides critical insights for logic optoelectronic devices.
Structural characteristics and environmental impact factors of submerged macrophytes communities during the natural restoration period of urban lakes with different trophic levels
Application of construction site management based on digital twin and point cloud semantic segmentation technology
Construction sites are particularly susceptible to the effects of extreme weather, with unsafe items posing a significant risk of causing substantial damage to construction projects and neighboring communities. Furthermore, data regarding the materials, machinery, and buildings present at the site are frequently obtained through manual inspection or on-site photography before the advent of extreme weather conditions. This process is resource-intensive and time-consuming. The core innovation of this study lies in the integration of digital twin technology with RandLA-Net-based point cloud semantic segmentation, optimized specifically for construction site safety management under extreme weather conditions. To achieve systematic disaster preparedness for construction sites, this study explores the potential of utilizing three-dimensional (3D) point cloud technology in construction site management. This involves acquiring location information about materials and machinery on construction sites through the development of a construction site point cloud identification system. This system is designed to identify and analyze potential risk factors in the digital twin model of a construction site, thereby optimizing the site layout at all stages. Furthermore, it enables practitioners to rapidly identify, locate, and assess potential risk factors on-site, facilitating the prompt and effective implementation of measures to prevent extreme weather.
MgCdTe buffer layers for MBE growth of high-quality HgCdTe—An approach toward curved imaging arrays
For next-generation infrared imaging systems, there is a growing demand for large field of view operation with reduced optical aberrations, which has motivated the development of curved HgCdTe focal plane arrays. The realization of such curved detectors requires damage-free substrate removal while preserving high material and device quality, posing significant challenges to conventional fabrication approaches. This work presents a preliminary study on the feasibility of incorporating a MgCdTe buffer layer for the molecular beam epitaxy growth of mid-wave infrared HgCdTe on CdZnTe (211)B substrates. The impact of the MgCdTe buffer on the structural and optoelectronic properties of the overlying HgCdTe layer is systematically investigated. The HgCdTe layers exhibit high crystal quality with an x-ray rocking curve full width at half maximum of 43 arc sec and a root mean square surface roughness of 1.02 nm. Fabricated HgCdTe photoconductors show a peak responsivity of 760 V/W and a peak detectivity of 2.5 × 1010 Jones at 77 K at a wavelength of 5.4 μm, comparable to previously reported p-type HgCdTe devices. The results indicate that the incorporation of a MgCdTe buffer layer does not degrade the material or device quality of HgCdTe. Therefore, this buffer-layer platform provides a viable foundation for integration with thick MgTe sacrificial layers to enable epitaxial liftoff for curved HgCdTe detector fabrication.
Co-incorporation of Phosphorus and zinc into wollastonite ceramic granules synergically facilitating thin-walled structures regeneration
A pilot randomized controlled trial to explore the feasibility of a peer-delivered single-session brief intervention for youth with moderate risk substance use
Background Youth in sub-Saharan Africa are at high risk of substance use yet lack access to appropriate interventions. The goal of this project was to evaluate the feasibility of a definitive trial to explore efficacy of a peer-delivered single-session brief intervention (SSBI) for youth with substance use in Kenya. Methods Seventy youth aged 15−24 years with moderate risk substance use were randomized to SSBI or to psychoeducation. Data was collected at baseline and month three. Primary outcomes: Feasibility criteria, e.g., study participation rate, proportion of participants willing to be randomized, and study completion rate. Strategies for recruitment in a future trial were collected using focus group discussions with the youth at month three. Secondary outcomes: (i) Change in substance use (Alcohol, Smoking & Substance Use Involvement Screening Test for Youth [ASSIST-Y] questionnaire), depression (Patient Health Questionnaire [PHQ-9]), anxiety (Generalized Anxiety Disorder [GAD-7 scale]), and quality of life (World Health Organization-Quality of Life Brief Version [WHO-QOL BREF]) scores between baseline and month 3; (ii) Fidelity to the intervention assessed using fidelity checklists. Results This pilot met most of the predefined minimum requirements for feasibility. For instance, 96.9% of those meeting eligibility criteria consented to participate (benchmark was 80%), and 100% of those who consented were willing to be randomized to either study arm. Youth reported that young people who use substances can be most effectively recruited from community settings. The SSBI showed a small effect on reducing total ASSIST-Y (Standardized Mean Difference [SMD] −0.33 95% Confidence Interval [CI] −0.83,0.16) scores in the intervention group compared to the control. There was a moderate improvement in the quality of life for the intervention group compared to the control (SMD −0.41 CI −0.91,0.09). The intervention had no effect on depression (SMD 0.23 CI −0.27,0.72) and anxiety symptoms (SMD 0.70 CI 0.19,1.2) at month 3. Conclusion It is feasible to conduct a randomized controlled trial of a peer-delivered SSBI for youth with moderate risk substance use in Kenya. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT05545904 Registration date: 16/09/2022, https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT05545904 .
Interface-engineered top-gate indium-tin-oxide thin-film transistors with 2-nm channels
The fabrication of top-gate (TG) field-effect transistor structure in amorphous oxide semiconductor systems remains challenging due to interfacial degradation associated with oxygen-deficient states at the gate insulator (GI)/channel interface induced during GI deposition. In this work, we demonstrate back-end-of-line-compatible, ultra-thin (2 nm) indium-tin-oxide (ITO) top-gate thin-film transistors (TFTs) enabled by an interface-engineered process that integrates channel surface treatment with stacked GI architecture. A bilayer Al2O3 GI grown with stacked atomic layer deposition (ALD) structure, consisting of thermal-mode ALD (T-ALD) and plasma-enhanced ALD (PE-ALD), is adopted to enhance gate controllability and suppress interfacial degradation. Additionally, an O2-plasma surface treatment on the channel is applied to further improve the channel–GI interface quality. The resulting devices exhibit an on/off current ratio of 108 (VDS = 1 V), a positive threshold voltage of 0.7 V, a subthreshold swing of 89 mV/decade, and a near-hysteresis-free threshold-voltage shift of only 17 mV. These results confirm that the proposed interface-engineering strategy effectively mitigates TG-process-induced degradation and enables high-performance ITO TG TFTs suitable for oxide-semiconductor-based monolithic 3D integrated circuits.
N-Glycoengineering of insect cells for tri-antennary N-glycan biosynthesis
Abstract Insect cells are attractive hosts for biopharmaceutical production due to their high productivity and mammalian-like post-translational modifications. However, their insect-specific N -glycans differ from mammalian types, thereby reducing product desirability. Here, with an emphasis on engineering N -glycosylation in insect cells, we aimed to develop a more tractable Spodoptera frugiperda Sf9 cell platform as a practical alternative to insect-based systems for engineering the production of tri-antennary N -glycans. A database search revealed that silkworm possesses N -acetylglucosaminyltransferase IV (GNTIV), a putative glycosyltransferase essential for tri-antennary N -glycan synthesis; however, it was not functional in vitro. Then, human GNTIV was introduced into insect cells, resulting in the production of small amounts of tri-antennary N -glycans. This suggested the need for additional factors to efficiently biosynthesize tri-antennary N -glycans. Subsequently, additional insect-derived glycosyltransferases, such as active GNTI and/or GNTII, were co-expressed with GNTIV. Co-expression of three N -acetylglucosaminyltransferases effectively led to the increased biosynthesis of tri-antennary N -glycans. On the other hand, trimming of the N -glycan structure was also observed due to the action of one or more endogenous glycosylhydrolases, which hydrolyze the terminal N -acetylglucosamine residue in insect cells. These facts indicate that effective tri-antennary N -glycan biosynthesis in insect cells requires not only the introduction of exogenous glycosyltransferases but also the knockdown or knockout of endogenous glycosylhydrolase(s).
Health care system resilience - Evaluating the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on emergency medical service demand in Germany: A case study from the city of Jena
Background The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted health systems globally, including emergency medical services (EMS). This study evaluates the absorptive and adaptive resilience of EMS in Jena, Germany, by analysing how the system managed significant pandemic-induced shocks to demand and operational workflows. Methods We conducted an observational, retrospective analysis of EMS missions in Jena from January 2018 to December 2021. Data on mission volumes, patient demographics, health issues, and dispatch and treatment intervals were analysed. Lockdown periods were compared to corresponding pre-pandemic reference periods to determine significant differences. Results During first and second lockdown EMS mission volume decreased by 16% and 10% respectively, when comparing with reference periods. Patient age increased, with a mean age of 62.2 years during the first lockdown versus 58.9 years in the reference period. There was a notable rise in on-site treatments without hospital transport. Cardiovascular cases decreased during lockdown periods, while occurrence of psychiatric patients increased. Scene times and handover times extended significantly, contributing to longer total mission times. Conclusions The pandemic led to shift in demand patterns, characterized by reduced overall demand, extended mission times, and a change in treatment focus from cardiovascular to psychiatric and psychosocial issues, reflecting changes in healthcare-seeking behaviour and operational challenges. While regional studies have examined mission volumes, our study provides a higher-resolution analysis of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on pre-clinical EMS in Germany and provides important insights to be used for health care planning and policy decision-making.
High mobility quaternary AlGaScN/GaN heterostructures grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition
Quaternary AlGaScN may mitigate ongoing growth challenges with metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD)-grown AlScN, namely, compositional inhomogeneities, interface quality, and high impurity levels. However, there are very few reports on epitaxial AlGaScN with no MOCVD data. In this work, MOCVD growth experiments of AlGaScN/GaN high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) structures were performed. AlGaScN/GaN samples demonstrated abrupt interfaces and smooth surfaces. The quaternary barrier structures consistently exhibited high mobilities and low sheet resistances compared to equivalent ternary AlScN-based structures. Electron mobilities of up to 1731 cm2 V−1 s−1 were achieved at a sheet charge of 1.7 × 1013 cm−2, with a sheet resistance of 212 Ω/□. These results indicate significant potential for AlGaScN barrier HEMTs grown by MOCVD.
Gut metabolite TMAO and its structural analogs bind to fibrinogen thereby enhancing clot formation: a rationale for atherosclerosis risk
Evaluating hypothetical interventions effects on hospital-acquired infection outcomes with stacked probability visualization: R Shiny apps based on a multistate modelling approach
Background Hospital-acquired infections (HAIs), contribute to increased morbidity, prolonged hospital stays, and higher healthcare costs. Evaluating intervention effects in dynamic clinical settings requires advanced modeling techniques. This study presents HAISim and StaViC , two interactive R Shiny apps designed to support decision-making in Infection Prevention and Control. Methods A six-state extended illness–death multistate model was built with a time-constant transition hazard assumption. The multistate model maps patient trajectories involving healthcare-associated infections as an intermediate event, and mortality and discharge as absorbing events in order to describe the time-dependent dynamics within hospitals. Using two settings, we simulated the implementation of hypothetical treatments by modifying hazard rates: Setting 1 (improved treatment intervention only) and Setting 2 (combined enhanced treatment and infection prevention). These were used to create the interactive and user-friendly R Shiny Apps HAISim (HAIs Interventions Simulator) and StaViC (Stacked probAbility Visualization & Comparison). The Shiny Apps use inputs from literature or user data, such as transition-specific hazard rates and intervention-related parameters. Results HAISim models the effects of hypothetically improved treatment and infection prevention on outcomes such as the number of lives saved and the number of patient days decreased by simulating a hypothetical scenario based on actual clinical data. StaViC makes it possible to compare potential interventions and their impacts before and after implementation by visualizing the stacked probabilities of patients across various health conditions. Conclusions These tools bridge methodological rigor and practical implementation, offering hospitals a flexible framework to prioritize cost-effective IPC strategies.
Modified spectral encoding for single-shot broadband terahertz detection based on cross-polarized wave
Achieving both high temporal resolution and a high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) in single-shot terahertz (THz) coherent detection remains a significant challenge. In this work, we present an improved electro-optic sampling (EOS) technique for single-shot THz detection by employing a cross-polarized wave (XPW) pulse as the probe beam, instead of the conventional pulse. By employing a dual-BaF2 crystal configuration, the XPW process is enhanced, yielding a XPW pulse with an extended spectral bandwidth of more than two folds and significantly reduced spectral noise, making it very promising for the single-shot THz detection with high temporal resolution and a high SNR. Experimental results demonstrate the successful single-shot coherent detection of broadband THz radiation generated from the laser-irradiated metal wire using the proposed EOS method. The system achieves a detection bandwidth of 2.8 THz, with a maximum detectable frequency approaching 5 THz, along with a significantly improved SNR compared to conventional spectral encoding techniques.
AI-driven sustainable strength prediction and experimental evaluation of high-performance fiber-reinforced concrete incorporating metakaolin
Deep learning–driven image captioning: Progress through transformers and large language models
This paper provides a novel deep learning model for captioning of images by using an advanced vision transformer architecture with a powerful LLM. Proposed models show a significant improvement over traditional CNN-RNN hybrids and existing transformer-based approaches by integrating a unique cross-attention mechanism that enables deep alignment between linguistic context and visual features. We show the superiority of our proposed architecture through extensive evaluation on different datasets like MSCOCO, Flickr30K, and NoCaps. The proposed model consistently shows good performance for leading methods such as GIT, BLIP-2, and CoCa across a comprehensive suite of metrics. On the MS COCO dataset, the BLEU-4, METEOR, and CIDEr scores of proposed models are equal to 0.495, 0.390, and 1.32, respectively. In this paper, we have critically analyzed the key challenges of this field, like enhancing caption diversity, ensuring robust multimodal alignment, and mitigating inherent biases. By providing a new performance level, the proposed model provides a source of reference for the next generation of image captioning systems. The results show the efficiency of our fusion strategy and facilitate the development of techniques that use models that can produce more precise, contextually rich, and human-like image depictions. This work supports SDG 9 (Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure) by advancing multimodal AI systems, and SDG 4 (Quality Education) by enabling intelligent and accessible image understanding technologies.
Controlled Synthesis of a New Class of Heterostructured Metal Oxides (Cerium, Thorium, Uranium)/Calcium Fluoride Core‐Shell Nanocrystals With Atomically Coherent Interfaces
ABSTRACT Heterostructured nanocrystals (NCs) integrating chemically and/or structurally distinct materials are of significant interest due to their potential to exhibit multiple functionalities or unconventional properties. However, the development of such materials remains limited, primarily due to crystallographic incompatibilities and synthesis challenges. Here, we report the synthesis and structural characterization of a new class of metal oxide‐based (Ce, Th, or U) heterostructures with calcium fluoride featuring core‐shell architectures with precise control over both morphology and shell thickness. Powder x‐ray diffraction (PXRD) and high‐resolution scanning/transmission electron microscopy techniques confirm the formation of high‐quality single‐crystalline particles coupling metal oxide (Ce, Th, or U) and calcium fluoride domains through a structurally coherent but chemically complex intermixed oxide‐fluoride interface—an unprecedented observation in cerium and actinide nanochemistry. These novel materials have been designed to anticipate their future doping with therapeutic alpha particle‐emitting radionuclides (α‐emitters) such as 227 Th or 230 U for locoregional targeted alpha therapy (TAT). It is anticipated that the reported heterostructured core‐shell NCs will offer a promising platform for preclinical investigations to determine the full potential and interest of inorganic core‐shell NCs, especially CeO 2 / CaF 2 , for TAT application.
Fermi level shifting of CVD-grown MoS2 nanosheets by cobalt doping-driven charge transfer and systematic strain
Precise control of the Fermi level in two-dimensional materials is critical for modulating their electronic structure, thereby facilitating their effective implementation in advanced electronic and optoelectronic applications. Here, we report on the role of cobalt doping in modulating the Fermi level of MoS2 synthesized by the chemical vapor deposition process. Raman spectroscopic results confirmed the presence of p-type dopants and tensile strain in the system through characteristic peak shifts. Photoluminescence studies reinforced the Raman findings by showing progressive quenching of excitonic emission and defect state evolution, consistent with Co-induced p-type doping. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy validated Co substitution in the MoS2 lattice and provided quantitative insights into bonding states and dopant concentration. Furthermore, Kelvin probe force microscopy measurements demonstrated a clear increase in work function with increasing Co concentration, reflecting a Fermi level shift toward the valence band. These findings highlight the dual role of cobalt doping in inducing strain and charge transfer, thereby offering a tunable strategy for engineering the electronic properties of MoS2 for next-generation nanoelectronics and catalytic applications.