Tree-Inspired Structurally Graded Aerogel with Synergistic Water, Salt, and Thermal Transport for High-Salinity Solar-Powered Evaporation.

Solar-powered interfacial evaporation is an energy-efficient solution for water scarcity. It requires solar absorbers to facilitate upward water transport and limit the heat to the surface for efficient evaporation. Furthermore, downward salt ion transport is also desired to prevent salt accumulation. However, achieving simultaneously fast water uptake, downward salt transport, and heat localization is challenging due to highly coupled water, mass, and thermal transport. Here, we develop a structurally graded aerogel inspired by tree transport systems to collectively optimize water, salt, and thermal transport. The arched aerogel features root-like, fan-shaped microchannels for rapid water uptake and downward salt diffusion, and horizontally aligned pores near the surface for heat localization through maximizing solar absorption and minimizing conductive heat loss. These structural characteristics gave rise to consistent evaporation rates of 2.09 kg m-2 h-1 under one-sun illumination in a 3.5 wt% NaCl solution for 7 days without degradation. Even in a high-salinity solution of 20 wt% NaCl, the evaporation rates maintained stable at 1.94 kg m-2 h-1 for 8 h without salt crystal formation. This work offers a novel microstructural design to address the complex interplay of water, salt, and thermal transport.

Exploring the Role of First-Person Singular Pronouns in Detecting Suicidal Ideation: A Machine Learning Analysis of Clinical Transcripts.

Linguistic features, particularly the use of first-person singular pronouns (FPSPs), have been identified as potential indicators of suicidal ideation. Machine learning (ML) and natural language processing (NLP) have shown potential in suicide detection, but their clinical applicability remains underexplored. This study aimed to identify linguistic features associated with suicidal ideation and develop ML models for detection. NLP techniques were applied to clinical interview transcripts (n = 319) to extract relevant features, including four cases of FPSP (subjective, objective, dative, and possessive cases) and first-person plural pronouns (FPPPs). Logistic regression analyses were conducted for each linguistic feature, controlling for age, gender, and depression. Gradient boosting, support vector machine, random forest, decision tree, and logistic regression were trained and evaluated. Results indicated that all four cases of FPSPs were associated with depression (p < 0.05) but only the use of objective FPSPs was significantly associated with suicidal ideation (p = 0.02). Logistic regression and support vector machine models successfully detected suicidal ideation, achieving an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.57 (p < 0.05). In conclusion, FPSPs identified during clinical interviews might be a promising indicator of suicidal ideation in Chinese patients. ML algorithms might have the potential to aid clinicians in improving the detection of suicidal ideation in clinical settings.

Interplay of Ferroptosis and Cuproptosis in Cancer: Dissecting Metal-Driven Mechanisms for Therapeutic Potentials.

Iron (Fe) and copper (Cu), essential transition metals, play pivotal roles in various cellular processes critical to cancer biology, including cell proliferation, mitochondrial respiration, distant metastases, and oxidative stress. The emergence of ferroptosis and cuproptosis as distinct forms of non-apoptotic cell death has heightened their significance, particularly in connection with these metal ions. While initially studied separately, recent evidence underscores the interdependence of ferroptosis and cuproptosis. Studies reveal a link between mitochondrial copper accumulation and ferroptosis induction. This interconnected relationship presents a promising strategy, especially for addressing refractory cancers marked by drug tolerance. Harnessing the toxicity of iron and copper in clinical settings becomes crucial. Simultaneous targeting of ferroptosis and cuproptosis, exemplified by the combination of sorafenib and elesclomol-Cu, represents an intriguing approach. Strategies targeting mitochondria further enhance the precision of these approaches, providing hope for improving treatment outcomes of drug-resistant cancers. Moreover, the combination of iron chelators and copper-lowering agents with established therapeutic modalities exhibits a synergy that holds promise for the augmentation of anti-tumor efficacy in various malignancies. This review elaborates on the complex interplay between ferroptosis and cuproptosis, including their underlying mechanisms, and explores their potential as druggable targets in both cancer research and clinical settings.

Intracranial nasofrontal dermoid cyst and a hair in the nose tip without a sinus tract identified with single-staged combined approach excision done.

This is the first reported case of intracranial nasofrontal dermoid without sinus tract, with complete excision done in single-staged combined approach frontal craniotomy and open rhinoplasty, and satisfactory nasal reconstruction.

Mechanochromic Optical/Electrical Skin for Ultrasensitive Dual-Signal Sensing.

Following earlier research efforts dedicated to the realization of multifunctional sensing, recent developments of artificial skins endeavor to go beyond human sensory functions by integrating interactive visualization of strain and pressure stimuli. Inspired by the microcracked structure of spider slit organs and the mechanochromic mechanism of chameleons, this work aims to design a flexible optical/electrical skin (OE-skin) capable of responding to complex stimuli with interactive feedback of human-readable structural colors. The OE-skin consists of an ionic electrode combined with an elastomer dielectric layer, a chromotropic layer containing photonic crystals and a conductive carbon nanotube/MXene layer. The electrode/dielectric layers function as a capacitive pressure sensor. The mechanochromic photonic crystals of ferroferric oxide-carbon magnetic arrays embedded in the gelatin/polyacrylamide stretchable hydrogel film perceive strain and pressure stimuli with bright color switching outputs in the full visible spectrum. The underlying microcracked conductive layer is devoted to ultrasensitive strain sensing with a gauge factor of 191.8. The multilayered OE-skin delivers an ultrafast, accurate response for capacitive pressure sensing with a detection limit of 75 Pa and long-term stability of 5000 cycles, while visualizing complex deformations in the form of high-resolution spatial colors. These findings offer deep insights into the rational design of OE-skins as multifunctional sensing devices.

Rational Design of Solid Polymer Electrolyte Based on Ionic Liquid Monomer for Supercapacitor Applications via Molecular Dynamics Study.

The safety concern arising from flammable liquid electrolytes used in batteries and supercapacitors drives technological advances in solid polymer electrolytes (SPEs) in which flammable organic solvents are absent. However, there is always a trade-off between the ionic conductivity and mechanical properties of SPEs due to the lack of interaction between the ionic liquid and polymer resin. The inadequate understanding of SPEs also limits their future exploitation and applications. Herein, we provide a complete approach to develop a new SPE, consisting of a cation (monomer), anion and hardener from ions-monomers using molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. The results show that the strong solid-liquid interactions between the SPE and graphene electrode lead to a very small gap of ∼5.5 Šbetween the components of SPE and electrode, resulting in a structured solid-to-liquid interface, which can potentially improve energy storage performance. The results also indicated the critical role of the mobility of free-standing anions in the SPE network to achieve high ionic conductivity for applications requiring fast charge/discharge. In addition, the formations of hardener-depleted regions and cation-anion-poor/rich regions near the uncharged/charged electrode surfaces were observed at the molecular level, providing insights for rationally designing the SPEs to overcome the boundaries for further breakthroughs in energy storage technology.

BN-PVDF/rGO-PVDF Laminate Nanocomposites for Energy Storage Applications.

The increasing demand for high energy storage devices calls for concurrently enhanced dielectric constants and reduced dielectric losses of polymer dielectrics. In this work, we rationally design dielectric composites comprising aligned 2D nanofillers of reduced graphene oxide (rGO) and boron nitride nanosheets (BNNS) in a polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) matrix through a novel press-and-fold technique. Both nanofillers play different yet complementary roles: while rGO is designed to enhance the dielectric constant through charge accumulation at the interfaces with polymer, BNNS suppress the dielectric loss by preventing the mobility of free electrons. The microlaminate containing eight layers each of rGO/PVDF and BNNS/PVDF films exhibits remarkable dielectric performance with a dielectric constant of 147 and an ultralow dielectric loss of 0.075, due to the synergistic effect arising from the alternatingly electrically conductive and insulating films. Consequently, a maximum energy density of 3.5 J/cm3-about 18 times the bilayer composite counterpart-is realized. The high thermal conductivities of both nanofillers and their alignment endow the microlaminate with an excellent in-plane thermal conductivity of 6.53 Wm-1K-1, potentially useful for multifunctional applications. This work offers a simple but effective approach to fabricating a composite for high dielectric energy storage using two different 2D nanofillers.

Scalable anisotropic cooling aerogels by additive freeze-casting.

Cooling in buildings is vital to human well-being but inevitability consumes significant energy, adding pressure on achieving carbon neutrality. Thermally superinsulating aerogels are promising to isolate the heat for more energy-efficient cooling. However, most aerogels tend to absorb the sunlight for unwanted solar heat gain, and it is challenging to scale up the aerogel fabrication while maintaining consistent properties. Herein, we develop a thermally insulating, solar-reflective anisotropic cooling aerogel panel containing in-plane aligned pores with engineered pore walls using boron nitride nanosheets by an additive freeze-casting technique. The additive freeze-casting offers highly controllable and cumulative freezing dynamics for fabricating decimeter-scale aerogel panels with consistent in-plane pore alignments. The unique anisotropic thermo-optical properties of the nanosheets combined with in-plane pore channels enable the anisotropic cooling aerogel to deliver an ultralow out-of-plane thermal conductivity of 16.9 mW m-1 K-1 and a high solar reflectance of 97%. The excellent dual functionalities allow the anisotropic cooling aerogel to minimize both parasitic and solar heat gains when used as cooling panels under direct sunlight, achieving an up to 7 °C lower interior temperature than commercial silica aerogels. This work offers a new paradigm for the bottom-up fabrication of scalable anisotropic aerogels towards practical energy-efficient cooling applications.

Superinsulating BNNS/PVA Composite Aerogels with High Solar Reflectance for Energy-Efficient Buildings.

With the mandate of worldwide carbon neutralization, pursuing comfortable living environment while consuming less energy is an enticing and unavoidable choice. Novel composite aerogels with super thermal insulation and high sunlight reflection are developed for energy-efficient buildings. A solvent-assisted freeze-casting strategy is used to produce boron nitride nanosheet/polyvinyl alcohol (BNNS/PVA) composite aerogels with a tailored alignment channel structure. The effects of acetone and BNNS fillers on microstructures and multifunctional properties of aerogels are investigated. The acetone in the PVA suspension enlarges the cell walls to suppress the shrinkage, giving rise to a lower density and a higher porosity, accompanied with much diminished heat conduction throughout the whole product. The addition of BNNS fillers creates whiskers in place of disconnected transverse ligaments between adjacent cell walls, further ameliorating the thermal insulation transverse to the cell wall direction. The resultant BNNS/PVA aerogel delivers an ultralow thermal conductivity of 23.5 mW m-1 K-1 in the transverse direction. The superinsulating aerogel presents both an infrared stealthy capability and a high solar reflectance of 93.8% over the whole sunlight wavelength, far outperforming commercial expanded polystyrene foams with reflective coatings. The anisotropic BNNS/PVA composite aerogel presents great potential for application in energy-saving buildings.

Molecular-Level Investigation of Cycloaliphatic Epoxidised Ionic Liquids as a New Generation of Monomers for Versatile Poly(Ionic Liquids).

Recently, a new generation of polymerised ionic liquids with high thermal stability and good mechanical performances has been designed through novel and versatile cycloaliphatic epoxy-functionalised ionic liquids (CEILs). From these first promising results and unexplored chemical structures in terms of final properties of the PILs, a computational approach based on molecular dynamics simulations has been developed to generate polymer models and predict the thermo-mechanical properties (e.g., glass transition temperature and Young's modulus) of experimentally investigated CEILs for producing multi-functional polymer materials. Here, a completely reproducible and reliable computational protocol is provided to design, test and tune poly(ionic liquids) based on epoxidised ionic liquid monomers for future multi-functional thermoset polymers.

Strategies to engage people with dementia and their informal caregivers in dyadic intervention: A scoping review.

Dyadic interventions simultaneously engage both people with dementia (PWD) and their informal caregivers (ICGs). This scoping review study identified the strategies for engaging dyads, described the perceptions of the dyads on these strategies, and reported the attrition rates of the dyadic interventions reported in the literature. Articles published up to July 2020, reporting a PWD-ICG-dyads intervention were searched in PubMed (Medline), PsycInfo, CINAHL, and the SSCI. Backwards citation chasing was conducted. A total of 37 studies were included. Seven engagement strategies were identified, which involved: ensuring a good-quality interventionist; offering take-home supporting materials; establishing peer support among the participants; tailoring the intervention content; conducting the intervention in a convenient location; conducting the intervention in a comfortable physical environment, and using a short and succinct programme. The dyads' subjective experiences of these strategies were reported. The attrition rates of the included studies were ranged 0% - 59.1%.

Long-term outcomes of ruptured cerebral arteriovenous malformations in the paediatric population: A retrospective review in a regional hospital in Hong Kong.

The objective of the study is to evaluate the management outcomes of ruptured cerebral arteriovenous malformations (bAVMs) in the paediatric population in a regional hospital in Hong Kong. We performed a retrospective review between 1 January 1999 and 31 December 2017 for ruptured bAVM in a regional neurosurgical centre in Hong Kong. All other vascular pathologies and unruptured cases were excluded. Thirty-three eligible patients were included for analysis. The median age at presentation was 12 (3-18), with a slight male preponderance. Presenting complaints included headache (60.6%), motor deficits (24.2%), and seizure (6.1%). Glasgow coma scale (GCS) on presentation (median, IQR) was 15 (13-15). bAVMs were lobar in 57.6%, infratentorial in 27.3%, and basal ganglia in 9.1%. Follow-up was 101 ±â€¯61 months and ranged from 24 to 229 months. 12 (36.4%) patients underwent emergency haematoma evacuation with or without bAVM excision because of neurological deterioration in the acute phase. 7 (21.2%) patients underwent interval excision and 11(33.3%) patients underwent stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS). There was no residual bAVM and no Clavien-Dindo complications greater than grade II in interval surgery group. Those who underwent SRS had a significantly higher Spetzler-Martin grade; bAVM obliteration was achieved at 73.3%, without any major symptomatic post-radiosurgery complications. There was 1 (3%) mortality and 30 (90.9%) patients recovered well with minor non-disabling deficits (GOS 5). For paediatric patients with ruptured bAVM, a satisfactory management outcome can be achieved with careful patient selection for surgery and radiosurgery.

Effect of Foreign Accent on Immediate Serial Recall.

This study disentangled factors contributing to impaired memory for foreign-accented words - misperception and disruption of encoding. When native English and Cantonese-accented words were presented auditorily for serial recall (Experiment 1), intrusion errors for accented words were higher across all serial positions (SPs). Participants made more intrusion errors during auditory presentation than visual and auditory presentation, and more errors for accented words than native words. Lengthening the interstimulus intervals in Experiment 2 reduced intrusion, repetition, order, and omission errors in the middle and late SPs during accented word recall, suggesting that extra time is required for identification and encoding of accented words into memory. Analyses of the intrusions showed that a majority of them were misperceptions and sounded similar to the stimulus words. These findings suggest that effortful perceptual processing of accented speech can induce perceptual difficulty and interfere with downstream memory processes by exhausting the shared pool of working memory.

The influence of neighborhood density on the recognition of Spanish-accented words.

Foreign-accented speech is more difficult to recognize than the same words produced by a native speaker because the accented speech may activate many additional competitors, or it may strongly activate a single, but incorrect, word during lexical retrieval. Experiments 1 and 2 examined the recognition of native-produced and foreign-accented words varying in neighborhood density with auditory lexical decision and perceptual identification tasks, respectively. Experiment 1 found increased reaction times (RTs), especially for accented dense words. Analysis of misperceptions from Experiment 2 found that the mean number of phonologically distinct misperception tokens was higher for native than accented stimuli, suggesting that accented speech does not tend to activate more lexical candidates. Furthermore, a higher proportion of misperceptions in the accented condition (71%) compared with the native condition (58%) was accounted for by the most frequently reported misperception token, suggesting that accented speech instead tends to strongly activate 1 particular neighbor of the target word during lexical competition. Moreover, systematic phonemic substitutions in the misperceptions suggest that lawful acoustic-phonetic variations introduced by the accented speaker's L1 (native language) play a crucial role in determining which neighbor is activated as a strong competitor.

Insights into failed lexical retrieval from network science.

Previous network analyses of the phonological lexicon (Vitevitch, 2008) observed a web-like structure that exhibited assortative mixing by degree: words with dense phonological neighborhoods tend to have as neighbors words that also have dense phonological neighborhoods, and words with sparse phonological neighborhoods tend to have as neighbors words that also have sparse phonological neighborhoods. Given the role that assortative mixing by degree plays in network resilience, we examined instances of real and simulated lexical retrieval failures in computer simulations, analysis of a slips-of-the-ear corpus, and three psycholinguistic experiments for evidence of this network characteristic in human behavior. The results of the various analyses support the hypothesis that the structure of words in the mental lexicon influences lexical processing. The implications of network science for current models of spoken word recognition, language processing, and cognitive psychology more generally are discussed.

Complex network structure influences processing in long-term and short-term memory.

Complex networks describe how entities in systems interact; the structure of such networks is argued to influence processing. One measure of network structure, clustering coefficient, C, measures the extent to which neighbors of a node are also neighbors of each other. Previous psycholinguistic experiments found that the C of phonological word-forms influenced retrieval from the mental lexicon (that portion of long-term memory dedicated to language) during the on-line recognition and production of spoken words. In the present study we examined how network structure influences other retrieval processes in long- and short-term memory. In a false-memory task-examining long-term memory-participants falsely recognized more words with low- than high-C. In a recognition memory task-examining veridical memories in long-term memory-participants correctly recognized more words with low- than high-C. However, participants in a serial recall task-examining redintegration in short-term memory-recalled lists comprised of high-C words more accurately than lists comprised of low-C words. These results demonstrate that network structure influences cognitive processes associated with several forms of memory including lexical, long-term, and short-term.

Network structure influences speech production.

Network science provides a new way to look at old questions in cognitive science by examining the structure of a complex system, and how that structure might influence processing. In the context of psycholinguistics, clustering coefficient-a common measure in network science-refers to the extent to which phonological neighbors of a target word are also neighbors of each other. The influence of the clustering coefficient on spoken word production was examined in a corpus of speech errors and a picture-naming task. Speech errors tended to occur in words with many interconnected neighbors (i.e., higher clustering coefficient). Also, pictures representing words with many interconnected neighbors (i.e., high clustering coefficient) were named more slowly than pictures representing words with few interconnected neighbors (i.e., low clustering coefficient). These findings suggest that the structure of the lexicon influences the process of lexical access during spoken word production.

The influence of the phonological neighborhood clustering coefficient on spoken word recognition.

Clustering coefficient-a measure derived from the new science of networks-refers to the proportion of phonological neighbors of a target word that are also neighbors of each other. Consider the words bat, hat, and can, all of which are neighbors of the word cat; the words bat and hat are also neighbors of each other. In a perceptual identification task, words with a low clustering coefficient (i.e., few neighbors are neighbors of each other) were more accurately identified than words with a high clustering coefficient (i.e., many neighbors are neighbors of each other). In a lexical decision task, words with a low clustering coefficient were responded to more quickly than words with a high clustering coefficient. These findings suggest that the structure of the lexicon (i.e., the similarity relationships among neighbors of the target word measured by clustering coefficient) influences lexical access in spoken word recognition. Simulations of the TRACE and Shortlist models of spoken word recognition failed to account for the present findings. A framework for a new model of spoken word recognition is proposed.