Browse Articles

Interfacial coupling enabled strong, asymmetric, and tunable thermoelectricity at graphene/MoS2 heterostructures

A comprehensive understanding of interfacial physics including electron/phonon transport and coupling at graphene/MoS2 heterojunctions is critical for thermoelectric conversion and sensing, yet remains insufficiently explored. Here, we comprehensively investigate its electrical transport, thermal transport, and thermoelectric properties using a well-designed micro-heater device and a photo-thermal Raman technique. Electrical transport measurements reveal opposite resistance dependence on gate voltage in individual MoS2 and graphene/MoS2 regions, based on which a low-voltage 0–1 logic device is demonstrated. The graphene/MoS2 heterojunction exhibits strong (maximum 1.03 mV/K in our experiment) and asymmetric thermoelectric characteristics, which are attributed to a synergistic mechanism involving interface energy filtering and graphene-doping. The thermoelectric response can be effectively tuned through modulation of interfacial Schottky barrier and electrical coupling. Additionally, we observe electrically tunable interfacial thermal conductance at the interface, which may arise from combined phonon coupling and electron–phonon interaction. Our study provides a promising platform for developing intelligent thermoelectric devices applications.

Transcriptomic landscape of Gallbladder cancer reveals altered pathways related to cell cycle and Aurora kinase

Chronic kidney disease screening and associated factors among people living with HIV on anti-retroviral therapy in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania: Hospital-based cross-sectional study

Background Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) is a significant global health challenge, particularly among people living with HIV (PLHIV) on antiretroviral therapy (ART). The combined effects of HIV infection, long-term ART exposure, and other comorbidities increase CKD risk in this population. Despite international and national recommendations for routine CKD screening, the uptake remains inconsistent in resource-limited settings like Tanzania. Understanding the prevalence and associated factors of CKD screening is vital for improving early detection and patient outcomes. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of CKD screening and associated factors among PLHIV on ART in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Methods This was a hospital-based cross-sectional study conducted in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Data were collected using a semi-structured questionnaire and the review of medical records. A systematic random sampling method was used to recruit participants in the study. Descriptive analysis was used to summarize participants’ characteristics and the prevalence of CKD screening. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression were applied to identify factors associated with CKD screening, with a p-value < 0.05 considered for statistical significance. Results Among 426 adults on ART, CKD screening uptake was high (94.1%). Screening was more likely among participants with higher CD4 counts (>350 cells/µL; AOR: 9.73, 95% CI: 1.21, 78.16; p = 0.032), and less frequent ART clinic attendance was associated with lower screening odds (every six months vs. monthly; AOR: 0.16, 95% CI: 0.05, 0.48; p = 0.001). Interestingly, participants reporting provider recommendations for CKD screening had lower odds of screening (AOR: 0.17, 95% CI: 0.04, 0.79; p = 0.024). Sociodemographic factors, viral load status, comorbidity, perceived adequacy of CKD information, and distance to screening facilities were not significantly associated with CKD screening. Conclusion CKD screening uptake among adults on ART was high, but screening was influenced by clinical and service factors. Higher CD4 counts and more frequent clinic attendance were associated with increased screening, while provider recommendations were paradoxically linked to lower screening, highlighting gaps in translating advice into action. Strengthening integrated, patient-centered approaches and ensuring systematic CKD screening across all patient groups is essential to optimize early detection and management of kidney disease in PLHIV.

Aziridination of a Single Carbon Atom in Alkenes via Energy Transfer Catalysis

ABSTRACT Traditional alkene aziridination relies on the alkene's reaction with a (formal) nitrene species, whereby the alkene provides both carbon atoms for the formed heterocycle. In contrast to this paradigm, we herein report a divergent manifold consisting of intermolecular aziridination at a single alkene site with concomitant functionalization of the second alkene site. This process unlocks alternative chemical space from alkenes through energy transfer‐catalyzed difunctionalization of alkenyl boronates and silanes toward spring‐loaded imine intermediates and their subsequent facile conversion to an aziridine involving a 1,2‐aza‐(bora‐)Brook rearrangement. The use of visible light and the absence of metals, additional bases, and external heating allow for mild reaction conditions that furnish unprotected and highly substituted aziridines.

Paper-based mixed-cation perovskite for optical terahertz modulation

The synthesis and optimization of FAxMA1−xPbBr3 mixed-cation perovskites, including the pure MAPbBr3 and FAPbBr3 phases, are reported. A stable performance enhancement was demonstrated by the polycrystalline sample with an optimized cation stoichiometry (x = 0.5, FA0.5MA0.5PbBr3) when grown on a paper. Under a laser density of 1.35 W/cm2, a terahertz frequency-domain modulation of 31.1% was achieved by paper-based FA0.5MA0.5PbBr3. The origin of the enhancement was confirmed through photocurrent and amplified spontaneous emission measurements to be a substantial increase in the internal photogenerated carrier concentration under optical excitation. These superior properties are attributed to the synergistic effects of cation mixing, which improves structural and optoelectronic stabilities, and the paper substrate, which enhances light harvesting and charge carrier dynamics.

Toxic effects of Annona squamosa seed extracts against Tuta absoluta (Meyrick) (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae) and their enzymatic response

Writing creativity, cohesion, and formal linguistic competence in LLMs: A comparative evaluation based on English and Chinese continuation writing

Recent advancements in large language models (LLMs), such as GPT-3.5, GPT-4, and Chinese models like ERNIE and SparkDesk (SPARK), have shown remarkable potential in story generation. However, a direct comparison between ChatGPTs, ERNIE, and SPARK (pretrained with dominant Chinese Corpus, referred to herein as C-dominant LLMs) remains underexplored in this domain, particularly regarding narrative writing continuation ability. Identifying such difference would be beneficial to teachers to adopt LLMs in writing practice. This study addresses this issue by comparing ChatGPTs and C-dominant LLMs in story continuation tasks, with a focus on cohesion, creativity, and formal linguistic competence. We harnessed advanced analytical tools, including Coh-Metrix and CTAP for cohesion and LIWC-22 and CLIWC for creativity, to assess the performance of GPT-3.5, GPT-4, ERNIE, and SPARK across English and Chinese continuations. Results indicated that C-dominant LLMs surpassed ChatGPTs in referential and deep cohesion for English story generation, while ChatGPTs excelled in latent semantic analysis. Conversely, ChatGPTs demonstrated superior performance in cohesion across all metrics for Chinese story generation. In terms of creativity, GPT models behaved better in image for English texts and voice for both English and Chinese, whereas C-dominant LLMs excelled in image for Chinese continuations. For formal linguistic competence, GPTs showed better performance in English tasks, while C-dominant LLMs in Chinese tasks. These findings provide insights for optimizing LLMs in multilingual contexts and offer guidance for their application in writing and translation based on diverse languages.

The Intricate Sabatier Optimality of Anion Electroreduction and Its Consequences for Nitrate Reduction

ABSTRACT The Sabatier principle is arguably among the most extended concepts in catalysis. It molded the idea of optimality as a balance between two undesired extremes of strong and weak binding. In electrocatalysis, Sabatier‐type volcano plots have had tremendous success for reactions with coupled proton‐electron transfers involving neutral reactants. However, we show here that the concept ought to be revised when charged reactants are involved. Specifically, we analyze anion electroreduction mediated by specific anion adsorption. We observe drastic changes in free‐energy diagrams and volcano plots compared to the reduction of neutral species: Specific adsorption is destabilized by the potential, the subsequent hydrogenation is potential‐independent, and the next step is stabilized by the potential. Consequently, volcano plots become mobile, such that strong and weak binding turn into potential‐dependent notions. We illustrate these intriguing phenomena for nitrate electroreduction on transition metals, a promising yet currently suboptimal electrocatalytic process for wastewater treatment.

Metasurface-based grafted perfect vector vortex beams for high-capacity multi-channel encryption in B5G communications

We propose a metasurface platform for the generation of grafted perfect vector vortex beams (GPVVBs) and a multi-channel optical encryption scheme. The metallic metasurface generates GPVVBs with controllable topological charges via phase grafting. GPVVBs produced by multi-segment phase-grafting configurations exhibit stable and controllable intensity distributions. Experimental and simulated results verify that the proposed metasurface can generate GPVVBs with two- and three-region phase-grafting configurations. The measured results show excellent agreement with simulations, confirming the effectiveness of the design. The multi-channel encryption scheme encodes plaintext into hexadecimal sequences and maps them onto vortex beam patterns. This dual encryption scheme, using topological charge multiplexing, greatly enhances the capacity and security of optical communications and information.

Comprehensive behavioral and demographic correlates in myopia risk among Tibetan adolescents: a machine learning analysis using non‑cycloplegic refraction

Pan-genome and reverse vaccinology for a multi-epitope vaccine against circulating post-2022 Monkeypox virus strains

Background Since the 2022 outbreak, the number of Monkeypox cases worldwide has been increasing at an alarming rate. As of August 2024, approximately 99,000 people have been infected with the virus. The severity of this situation is further highlighted by the World Health Organization's (WHO) classification of the Mpox virus as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) due to the increased fatality rate of approximately 3.6% in clade I. Objectives Targeting the virus's membrane-bound, enveloped, and extracellular proteins, our goal was to computationally develop and assess a broad-spectrum multi-epitope vaccine that elicits humoral and adaptive immune responses against Monkeypox virus (MPXV) infection. Methods During an outbreak, a pan-genome-based reverse vaccinology approach can offer rapid, practical solutions to enduring problems in experimental vaccine design. The method involved screening 16 monkeypox genomes to identify viral targets, from which viral proteins were selected based on their antigenicity, location, and solubility. Immunoinformatics methods and algorithms were used to extract the proteins’ putative T-cell and B-cell epitopes, which were combined to form several vaccine constructions. The tertiary structure of the chimeric vaccine construct's interaction with Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) was thoroughly assessed using the advanced techniques of molecular docking and molecular dynamics simulation. Results A pan-genomic analysis identified 80 core genes, which were then screened for proteins suitable for epitope-based vaccine design. From four of these selected proteins, T-cell and B-cell epitopes were extracted to create four distinct vaccine constructs. Appropriate adjuvants and linkers were incorporated into each construct to enhance its potential efficacy. Stability and immunogenicity analyses of each vaccine design yielded promising results. These findings suggest that the vaccine constructs could be effective in preventing monkeypox, warranting further experimental validation and supporting the application of similar strategies to combat other viral illnesses.

Oxidized‐State Accumulation Controls Water Oxidation Kinetics on a Model Iridium Atomic Array

ABSTRACT Water oxidation is vital for renewable energy conversion but remains kinetically complex due to the strong coupling of electron transfer with proton‐involved chemical processes of bond formation and rupture, which are not fully captured by phenomenological Tafel analyses. Here, we design CeO 2 nanorod‐supported iridium atomic arrays (Ir/CeO 2 ) as model catalyst to elucidate the molecular‐scale information about the kinetics mechanism. We reveal that the applied bias does not directly act on the reaction coordinate but regulates electrocatalytically generated current through oxidative charge accumulation. This build‐up of oxidized states significantly reduces the activation energy for *OOH formation by facilitating the O─O coupling step. Meanwhile, the electron‐buffering capacity of CeO 2 support prevents Ir over‐oxidation and dissolution during charge accumulation, thereby enhancing catalyst stability. As a result, the Ir/CeO 2 catalyst delivers superior activity and durability in proton exchange membrane water electrolyzers, achieving industrial‐level current densities at low cell voltages. These findings provide molecular insights into charge‐controlled water oxidation kinetics and highlight the essential role of purely chemical steps in describing the kinetics of multi‐electron reactions.

Self-powered wavelength-selective bipolar dual-mode optoelectronic device based on a SnO2/CsBi3I10–IR820 heterojunction

Achieving self-powered dual-mode optoelectronic devices that integrate fast photodetection with optoelectronic synaptic functionality remains challenging because signal sensing and memory rely on different response dynamics. Here, a self-powered wavelength-selective bipolar dual-mode optoelectronic device based on a SnO2/CsBi3I10–IR820 heterojunction is fabricated. At zero bias, the device exhibits a positive and rapid photodetection response under 650 nm illumination, with a responsivity of 0.18 A/W and a specific detectivity of 1.2 × 1013 Jones. Under 820 nm illumination, the photocurrent polarity reverses, and the device mimics optoelectronic synaptic behaviors, including short-term and long-term plasticity. The wavelength-selective bipolar dual-mode operation is due to the competition between the built-in photovoltaic effect in the SnO2/CsBi3I10–IR820 heterojunction and the photothermoelectric effect introduced by IR820. These results provide a simple strategy for self-powered multifunctional optoelectronic devices with integrated sensing and memory functions.

Numerical investigation on aerodynamic characteristics of a tiltrotor wing with serrated Gurney flap

My avatar moves with me, so I am the one acting: Avatar responsiveness supports implicit sense of agency in virtual reality

Virtual reality (VR) allows users to interact with computer-generated environments in a controlled yet immersive manner. One of its most relevant features is its ability to induce virtual embodiment, the process of becoming rooted in a virtual body. A key component of this experience is the sense of agency over the action-outcomes produced in the virtual environment. However, to date, no study has jointly examined explicit and implicit senses of agency within a VR paradigm in which actions lead to consequences occurring entirely in the virtual environment. To this aim, we conducted two consecutive experiments in 70 healthy adults, who performed active or passive hand movements to switch on a virtual lightbulb. On a trial-by-trial basis, explicit agency was assessed through self-reported ratings, and implicit agency through intentional binding across three action-outcome delays (200, 400, and 600 ms). In Experiment 1 ("still avatar", n = 35), participants performed the task observing stationary virtual hands. Because this setup did not elicit the typical intentional binding phenomenon, indicating no evidence of implicit agency under these conditions, we conducted Experiment 2 in an independent sample ("responsive avatar", n = 35), in which the avatar’s hands moved synchronously with participants’ real movements. Across both experiments, participants reported significantly greater explicit agency during active than during passive movements, regardless of avatar responsiveness. In contrast, intentional binding was observed only when the avatar’s movements mirrored the participant’s real movements (Experiment 2), and exclusively for the shortest action-outcome delay (200 ms). These findings suggest that avatar responsiveness is associated with the emergence of implicit, but not explicit, sense of agency. This dissociation advances our understanding of the mechanisms underlying agency in immersive environments and informs the design of VR-based neurorehabilitation interventions that promote a stronger sense of control.

<i>In situ</i> nitrogen doping enables highly stable InSnZnON thin-film transistors

This study proposes a coupling strategy combining co-sputtering and in situ nitrogen doping, which is used to fabricate nitrogen-doped indium-tin-zinc-oxide (ITZON) thin-film transistors (TFTs) that possess both high electrical performance and excellent stability. The ITZON channel layer was successfully fabricated through co-sputtering of ITO and ZnO targets in the Ar/N2 atmosphere. Comprehensive material characterization combined with technology computer aided design simulations reveals that the enhanced performance and stability originate from nitrogen doping effectively passivating oxygen vacancies, improving interface quality, and optimizing carrier transport pathways enabled by nitrogen incorporation. The optimized ITZON TFTs exhibit outstanding overall performance with the field-effect mobility (μFE) of 48.65 cm2/V s, the subthreshold swing of 0.34 V/dec, the threshold voltage (VTH) of −0.41 V, and minimal hysteresis of 0.09 V. Under positive/negative gate bias stress and positive/negative bias illumination stress tests, the devices demonstrate exceptional stability with threshold voltage shifts (ΔVTH) of +0.26 V, −0.73 V, +1.55 V, and −1.09 V, respectively. The strategy provides a simple and process-friendly solution for achieving high-performance multicomponent oxide TFTs.

Dysregulated Fas/Fas ligand expression in endometrial stromal cells and mononuclear cells in endometriosis

The occurrence of a particular state is a predictor of successful travel consultation

Dyadic interactions, such as consultations between clerks (i.e., travel agent sales staff) and customers, involve multiple behaviors that reflect people’s internal states, such as interests and preferences. Thus, the time-series patterns of multiple behaviors between two people reveal the characteristics of the interaction. In this study, we conducted an experiment on travel consultations between clerks and customers, which was as close as possible to a real situation, and analyzed the time-series shifts of multiple behaviors in a 30-minute dyadic interaction using a hidden Markov model. We found differences in interactions between successful and unsuccessful consultations. In particular, in the successful interaction, a customer entered an interactional state associated with interest in the content of the consultation in the first 10 minutes, and such a state was likely to persist during the consultation. These findings suggest that early interactional engagement may serve as a potential behavioral marker associated with consultation success and offer a preliminary process-level perspective on interaction dynamics in naturalistic dyadic consultations.

A Generalizable Active‐Site Blocking Strategy Enables High Initial Coulombic Efficiency in Mononitrogen‐Containing Organic Cathodes

ABSTRACT Mononitrogen‐containing aromatic compounds, exemplified by carbazole (CZ) and triphenylamine, are emerging as promising high‐potential candidates (3.6–4.3 V vs. Li + /Li) for p‐type anion‐storage electrode materials. However, the inherent reactivity of their para positions at elevated potentials (&gt;4 V) induces undesirable electropolymerization, leading to severe low initial coulombic efficiency (ICE). Herein, we propose an active‐site blocking strategy to fundamentally address this critical challenge through molecular engineering. Specifically, we develop a CZ‐based organic polymer, poly[5‐(9‐ethyl‐9H‐carbazol‐3‐yl)‐5,10‐dihydrophenazine] (p‐ECZDPZ), tailored as the model system to validate the efficacy of our proposed strategy. By strategically incorporating 5,10‐dihydrophenazine and ethyl group into its structure, the active para positions of the CZ moieties are effectively blocked. This enables a superior ICE of 86% without requiring any pretreatment, surpassing other known CZ‐based organic electrode materials to date. The constructed Li‐based dual‐ion full batteries (LDIBs) achieve a peak discharge capacity of 204 mAh g −1 , an ICE of 84%, and a stable operation over 20 000 cycles. At high cathode mass loading, the LDIBs demonstrate an energy density of 445 Wh kg −1 while retaining no capacity decay for 8000 cycles. Pouch‐type full cells achieve direct activation during the first charge process, realizing an energy density of 305 Wh kg −1 cathode .

Co-engineered gate stack for 700 °C thermal budget IGZO transistors with superior bias stability

We demonstrate amorphous indium gallium zinc oxide transistors that maintain exceptional bias stress stability even after being subjected to a 700 °C thermal budget, overcoming a critical challenge for monolithic one-transistor-one-capacitor dynamic random access memory (DRAM) integration. This high stability is achieved by a co-engineered gate stack comprising a HfAlO dielectric and an Al2O3 interlayer, referred to as the HfAlO-Al gate stack, which is designed using thermodynamic calculations and ab initio molecular dynamics simulations. The stack combines a high dielectric constant HfAlO dielectric with an elevated crystallization temperature and a flexible, stable Al2O3 interlayer that suppresses atomic interdiffusion, preserving a sharp interface. Experimentally, following a thermal budget of 700 °C for 5 min, the optimized devices exhibit negligible threshold voltage shifts (ΔVth) of only −7 mV under negative bias stress and +17 mV under positive bias stress after 2000 s stress at Vth±4 V. This work provides a viable solution for integrating high-performance oxide semiconductor transistors in advanced DRAM applications.