Nanoimprint-induced strain engineering of two-dimensional materials.

The high stretchability of two-dimensional (2D) materials has facilitated the possibility of using external strain to manipulate their properties. Hence, strain engineering has emerged as a promising technique for tailoring the performance of 2D materials by controlling the applied elastic strain field. Although various types of strain engineering methods have been proposed, deterministic and controllable generation of the strain in 2D materials remains a challenging task. Here, we report a nanoimprint-induced strain engineering (NISE) strategy for introducing controllable periodic strain profiles on 2D materials. A three-dimensional (3D) tunable strain is generated in a molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) sheet by pressing and conforming to the topography of an imprint mold. Different strain profiles generated in MoS2 are demonstrated and verified by Raman and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy. The strain modulation capability of NISE is investigated by changing the imprint pressure and the patterns of the imprint molds, which enables precise control of the strain magnitudes and distributions in MoS2. Furthermore, a finite element model is developed to simulate the NISE process and reveal the straining behavior of MoS2. This deterministic and effective strain engineering technique can be easily extended to other materials and is also compatible with common semiconductor fabrication processes; therefore, it provides prospects for advances in broad nanoelectronic and optoelectronic devices.

Switchable Power Generation in Triboelectric Nanogenerator Toward Chip-Less Wearable Power Module Applications.

A conceptual shift toward next-generation wearable electronics is driving research into self-powered electronics technologies that can be independently operated without plugging into the grid for external power feeding. Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) are emerging as a key component of self-powered electronics, but a power type mismatch between supply and demand limits their direct implementation into wearable self-powered electronics. Here, a TENG with switchable power mode capability is reported where the charge flow direction is modulated over the course of slow and random mechanical stimuli, with exceptional rectification capabilities as high as ≈133, stable outputs over the cycles, and design flexibility in different platforms. Importantly, the remarkable switchable power generation with fabric counter materials illuminates a new path for the smooth integration of flexible TENGs into wearable self-powered electronics.

Integration of fine-tuned chiral donor with hybrid long/short-range charge-transfer for high-performance circularly polarized electroluminescence.

The synergistic integration of a fine-tuned chiral donor with a hybrid long/short-range charge-transfer mechanism offers an accessible pathway to construct highly efficient circularly polarized emitters. Consequently, a notable dissymmetry factor of 1.6 × 10-3, concomitantly with a record-setting maximum external quantum efficiency of 37.4%, is synchronously realized within a single embodiment.

The polymorphism of the ovine insulin like growth factor-2 (IGF2) gene and their associations with growth related traits in Tibetan sheep.

In the current study, the role of the ovine IGF2 as a potential candidate gene was investigated as though marker-assisted selection in Chinese Tibetan sheep. The Sanger DNA sequencing method explored five single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 5'UTR of the ovine IGF2 gene (C15640T, G15801A, G15870A, C15982G and G15991A) in Chinese Tibetan sheep. The frequencies of four SNPs were within the Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium (chi-square test) except C15982G. The statistical analysis indicated that the C15640T and G15801A were significantly associated with body height, body length, chest circumference, and body weight (P < 0.05 or P < 0.01). Furthermore, C15982G variant exhibited significant correlation with the body weight (P < 0.01). These findings suggests that the promoter variants of IGF2 gene could be used as a candidate gene through marker-assisted selection for the body weight and body measurement traits in Tibetan sheep breeding program.

Metallic Micro-Nano Network-Based Soft Transparent Electrodes: Materials, Processes, and Applications.

Soft transparent electrodes (TEs) have received tremendous interest from academia and industry due to the rapid development of lightweight, transparent soft electronics. Metallic micro-nano networks (MMNNs) are a class of promising soft TEs that exhibit excellent optical and electrical properties, including low sheet resistance and high optical transmittance, as well as superior mechanical properties such as softness, robustness, and desirable stability. They are genuinely interesting alternatives to conventional conductive metal oxides, which are expensive to fabricate and have limited flexibility on soft surfaces. This review summarizes state-of-the-art research developments in MMNN-based soft TEs in terms of performance specifications, fabrication methods, and application areas. The review describes the implementation of MMNN-based soft TEs in optoelectronics, bioelectronics, tactile sensors, energy storage devices, and other applications. Finally, it presents a perspective on the technical difficulties and potential future possibilities for MMNN-based TE development.

Survival analysis of age-related oral squamous cell carcinoma: a population study based on SEER.

BACKGROUND: This research aimed to investigate the prognostic factors of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC), especially the role of age. METHODS: A total of 33,619 cases of OSCC were received from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database during 2005-2015. Kaplan-Meier curves of 5-year overall survival rates and 5-year cancer-specific survival rates were performed, and univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses as well as competing risk model were used to help understand the relationship between various factors and mortality of OSCC. RESULTS: Compared to 18-39-year-old group, the older age was an important predictor of worse prognosis. The multivariate analysis of overall survival (OS) was 50-59 years (HR, 1.32; 95% CI 1.17-1.48; p ≤ .001), 60-69 years (HR, 1.66; 95% CI 1.42-1.87; p ≤ .001) and 70 + years (HR, 3.21; 95% CI 2.86-3.62; p ≤ .001), respectively, while the specific value of competing risk model was 60-69 years (HR, 1.21; 95% CI 1.07-1.38; p = .002) and 70 + years (HR, 1.85; 95% CI 1.63-2.10; p ≤ .001). In addition, female gender, unmarried, Blacks, tumor in floor of mouth, size and higher Tumor Node Metastasis (TNM) classification were also other predictors that signify significant clinically deterioration of OS/cancer-specific survival (CSS). CONCLUSIONS: Our research revealed that age was an important factor in explaining the difference of survival in the whole process of OSCC. It is suggested that we should pay attention to the influence of age on diagnosis, treatment and prognosis in the clinical process.

Safe Production Strategies for Soil-Covered Cultivation of Morel in Heavy Metal-Contaminated Soils.

Morel is a popular edible mushroom with considerable medicinal and economic value which has garnered global popularity. However, the increasing heavy metal (HM) pollution in the soil presents a significant challenge to morels cultivation. Given the susceptibility of morels to HM accumulation, the quality and output of morels are at risk, posing a serious food safety concern that hinders the development of the morel industry. Nonetheless, research on the mechanism of HM enrichment and mitigation strategies in morel remains scarce. The morel, being cultivated in soil, shows a positive correlation between HM content in its fruiting body and the HM content in the soil. Therefore, soil remediation emerges as the most practical and effective approach to tackle HM pollution. Compared to physical and chemical remediation, bioremediation is a low-cost and eco-friendly approach that poses minimal threats to soil composition and structure. HMs easily enriched during morels cultivation were examined, including Cd, Cu, Hg, and Pb, and we assessed soil passivation technology, microbial remediation, strain screening and cultivation, and agronomic measures as potential approaches for HM pollution prevention. The current review underscores the importance of establishing a comprehensive system for preventing HM pollution in morels.

Si/Organic Integrated Narrowband Near-Infrared Photodetector.

Spectrally selective narrowband photodetection is critical for near-infrared (NIR) imaging applications, such as for communicationand night-vision utilities. It is a long-standing challenge for detectors based on silicon, to achieve narrowband photodetection without integrating any optical filters. Here, this work demonstrates a NIR nanograting Si/organic (PBDBT-DTBT:BTP-4F) heterojunction photodetector (PD), which for the first time obtains the full-width-at-half-maximum (FWHM) of only 26 nm and fast response of 74 µs at 895 nm. The response peak can be successfully tailored from 895 to 977 nm. The sharp and narrow response NIR peak is inherently attributed to the coherent overlapping between the NIR transmission spectrum of organic layer and diffraction enhanced absorption peak of patterned nanograting Si substrates. The finite difference time domain (FDTD) physics calculation confirms the resonant enhancement peaks, which is well consistent with the experiment results. Meanwhile, the relative characterization indicates that the introduction of the organic film can promote carrier transfer and charge collection, facilitating efficient photocurrent generation. This new device design strategy opens up a new window in developing low-cost sensitive NIR narrowband detection.

A HER2-targeted antibody-novel DNA topoisomerase I inhibitor conjugate induces durable adaptive antitumor immunity by activating dendritic cells.

We designed and developed a novel DNA topoisomerase I inhibitor MF-6, which was a more potent cytotoxin and a more potent inducer of immunogenic cell death compared with DXd. To utilize MF-6's ability to induce antitumor immunity, a human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-targeted antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) trastuzumab-L6 that included a cleavable linker and MF-6 was developed. Different from traditional cytotoxic ADC, the antitumor activity of trastuzumab-L6 was assessed by inducing tumor cell immunogenic cell death, activating dendritic cells and cytotoxic CD8+ T cells to acquire durable adaptive immune memory. Tumor cells treated with trastuzumab-L6 were committed to immunogenic cell death, with upregulation of damage-associated molecular patterns and antigen presentation molecules. In a syngeneic tumor model with a mouse cell line that expressed human HER2, immunocompetent mice showed greater antitumor efficacy compared with nude mice. The trastuzumab-L6-cured immunocompetent mice acquired adaptive antitumor memory and rejected subsequent tumor cell challenge. The trastuzumab-L6 efficacy was abrogated when cytotoxic CD8+ T cells were depleted and enhanced when regulatory CD4+ T cells were depleted. The combination of trastuzumab-L6 with immune checkpoint inhibitors significantly increased antitumor efficacy. Enhanced T cell infiltration, dendritic cell activation, and decreased type M2 macrophages in tumor post trastuzumab-L6 administration confirmed the immune-activating responses. In conclusion, trastuzumab-L6 was considered to be an immunostimulatory agent, rather than a traditional cytotoxic ADC, and its antitumor efficacy was enhanced when combined with an anti-PD-L1 and anti-CTLA-4 antibody, which suggested a potential therapeutic strategy.

Unraveling Size-Dependent Ion-Migration for Stable Mixed-Halide Perovskite Light-Emitting Diodes.

Mixed-halide perovskites show tunable emission wavelength across the visible-light range, with optimum control of the light color. However, color stability remains limited due to the notorious halide segregation under illumination or an electric field. Here, a versatile path toward high-quality mixed-halide perovskites with high emission properties and resistance to halide segregation is presented. Through systematic in and ex situ characterizations, key features for this advancement are proposed: a slowed and controllable crystallization process can promote achievement of halide homogeneity, which in turn ensures thermodynamic stability; meanwhile, downsizing perovskite nanoparticle to nanometer-scale dimensions can enhance their resistance to external stimuli, strengthening the phase stability. Leveraging this strategy, devices are developed based on CsPbCl1.5 Br1.5 perovskite that achieves a champion external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 9.8% at 464 nm, making it one of the most efficient deep-blue mixed-halide perovskite light-emitting diodes (PeLEDs) to date. Particularly, the device demonstrates excellent spectral stability, maintaining a constant emission profile and position for over 60 min of continuous operation. The versatility of this approach with CsPbBr1.5 I1.5 PeLEDs is further showcased, achieving an impressive EQE of 12.7% at 576 nm.

Trust within human-machine collectives depends on the perceived consensus about cooperative norms.

With the progress of artificial intelligence and the emergence of global online communities, humans and machines are increasingly participating in mixed collectives in which they can help or hinder each other. Human societies have had thousands of years to consolidate the social norms that promote cooperation; but mixed collectives often struggle to articulate the norms which hold when humans coexist with machines. In five studies involving 7917 individuals, we document the way people treat machines differently than humans in a stylized society of beneficiaries, helpers, punishers, and trustors. We show that a different amount of trust is gained by helpers and punishers when they follow norms over not doing so. We also demonstrate that the trust-gain of norm-followers is associated with trustors' assessment about the consensual nature of cooperative norms over helping and punishing. Lastly, we establish that, under certain conditions, informing trustors about the norm-consensus over helping tends to decrease the differential treatment of both machines and people interacting with them. These results allow us to anticipate how humans may develop cooperative norms for human-machine collectives, specifically, by relying on already extant norms in human-only groups. We also demonstrate that this evolution may be accelerated by making people aware of their emerging consensus.

Room-Temperature Intrinsic Ferromagnetic Chromium Tellurium Compounds with Thickness-Tunable Magnetic Texture.

2D ferromagnetic chromium tellurides exhibit intriguing spin configurations and high-temperature intrinsic ferromagnetism, providing unprecedented opportunities to explore the fundamental spin physics and build spintronic devices. Here, a generic van der Waals epitaxial approach is developed to synthesize the 2D ternary chromium tellurium compounds with thicknesses down to mono-, bi-, tri-, and few-unit cells (UC). The Mn0.14 Cr0.86 Te evolves from intrinsic ferromagnetic behavior in bi-UC, tri-UC, and few-UC to temperature-induced ferrimagnetic behavior as the thickness increases, resulting in a sign reversal of the anomalous Hall resistance. Temperature- and thickness-tunable labyrinthine-domain ferromagnetic behaviors are derived from the dipolar interactions in Fe0.26 Cr0.74 Te and Co0.40 Cr0.60 Te. Furthermore, the dipolar-interaction-induced stripe domain and field-induced domain wall (DW) motion velocity are studied, and multibit data storage is realized through an abundant DW state. The magnetic storage can function in neuromorphic computing tasks, and the pattern recognition accuracy can reach up to 97.93%, which is similar to the recognition accuracy of ideal software-based training (98.28%). Room-temperature ferromagnetic chromium tellurium compounds with intriguing spin configurations can significantly promote the exploration of the processing, sensing, and storage based on 2D magnetic systems.

Electrochemical Replication and Transfer for Low-Cost, Sub-100 nm Patterning of Materials on Flexible Substrates.

The fabrication of high-resolution patterns on flexible substrates is an essential step in the development of flexible electronics. However, the patterning process on flexible substrates often requires expensive equipment and tedious lithographic processing. Here, a bottom-up patterning technique, termed electrochemical replication and transfer (ERT) is reported, which fabricates multiscale patterns of a wide variety of materials by selective electrodeposition of target materials on a predefined template, and subsequent transfer of the electrodeposited materials to a flexible substrate, while leaving the undamaged template for reuse for over 100 times. The additive and parallel patterning attribute of ERT allows the fabrication of multiscale patterns with resolutions spanning from sub-100 nm to many centimeters simultaneously, which overcomes the trade-off between resolution and throughput of conventional patterning techniques. ERT is suitable for fabricating a wide variety of materials including metals, semiconductors, metal oxides, and polymers into arbitrary shapes on flexible substrates at a very low cost.

High-fidelity and clean nanotransfer lithography using structure-embedded and electrostatic-adhesive carriers.

Metallic nanostructures are becoming increasingly important for both fundamental research and practical devices. Many emerging applications employing metallic nanostructures often involve unconventional substrates that are flexible or nonplanar, making direct lithographic fabrication very difficult. An alternative approach is to transfer prefabricated structures from a conventional substrate; however, it is still challenging to maintain high fidelity and a high yield in the transfer process. In this paper, we propose a high-fidelity, clean nanotransfer lithography method that addresses the above challenges by employing a polyvinyl acetate (PVA) film as the transferring carrier and promoting electrostatic adhesion through triboelectric charging. The PVA film embeds the transferred metallic nanostructures and maintains their spacing with a remarkably low variation of <1%. When separating the PVA film from the donor substrate, electrostatic charges are generated due to triboelectric charging and facilitate adhesion to the receiver substrate, resulting in a high large-area transfer yield of up to 99.93%. We successfully transferred the metallic structures of a variety of materials (Au, Cu, Pd, etc.) with different geometries with a <50-nm spacing, high aspect ratio (>2), and complex 3D structures. Moreover, the thin and flexible carrier film enables transfer on highly curved surfaces, such as a single-mode optical fiber with a curvature radius of 62.5 µm. With this strategy, we demonstrate the transfer of metallic nanostructures for a compact spectrometer with Cu nanogratings transferred on a convex lens and for surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) characterization on graphene with reliable responsiveness.

Population-Based Hyperparameter Tuning With Multitask Collaboration.

Population-based optimization methods are widely used for hyperparameter (HP) tuning for a given specific task. In this work, we propose the population-based hyperparameter tuning with multitask collaboration (PHTMC), which is a general multitask collaborative framework with parallel and sequential phases for population-based HP tuning methods. In the parallel HP tuning phase, a shared population for all tasks is kept and the intertask relatedness is considered to both yield a better generalization ability and avoid data bias to a single task. In the sequential HP tuning phase, a surrogate model is built for each new-added task so that the metainformation from the existing tasks can be extracted and used to help the initialization for the new task. Experimental results show significant improvements in generalization abilities yielded by neural networks trained using the PHTMC and better performances achieved by multitask metalearning. Moreover, a visualization of the solution distribution and the autoencoder's reconstruction of both the PHTMC and a single-task population-based HP tuning method is compared to analyze the property with the multitask collaboration.

The longitudinal impact of reinforcement sensitivity on internet addiction among college students: the mediating role of self-control.

Introduction: As the rapid expanding of internet technology, it is necessary to pay attention to the factors that predict Internet addiction. This study aimed to investigate the longitudinal impact of reinforcement sensitivity on internet addiction among college students and the mediating role of self-control. Methods: The study involves two follow-up assessments with a 5-month interval. 383 college students' reinforcement sensitivity, self-control, and internet addiction were measured at two-time points. Results: ①The revised Behavioral Approach System (r-BAS) at Time Point 1 (T1) could predict both T1 and Time Point 2 (T2) internet addiction through the complete mediation of T1 self-control. ②The revised Behavioral Inhibition System (r-BIS) at T1, along with the Fight/Flight/Freeze System (FFFS), can predict T1 and T2 internet addiction through the partial mediation of T1 self-control. Conclusion: Reinforcement sensitivity can predict current and future internet addiction, with self-control playing a mediating role. This study provides longitudinal experimental evidence for the revised Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory (r-RST), further revealing the underlying mechanisms through which reinforcement sensitivity influences internet addiction. Additionally, it has implications for clinical intervention.

MlrA, a MerR family regulator in Vibrio cholerae, senses the anaerobic signal in the small intestine of the host to promote bacterial intestinal colonization.

Vibrio cholerae (V. cholerae), one of the most important bacterial pathogens in history, is a gram-negative motile bacterium that causes fatal pandemic disease in humans via oral ingestion of contaminated water or food. This process involves the coordinated actions of numerous regulatory factors. The MerR family regulators, which are widespread in prokaryotes, have been reported to be associated with pathogenicity. However, the role of the MerR family regulators in V. cholerae virulence remains unknown. Our study systematically investigated the influence of MerR family regulators on intestinal colonization of V. cholerae within the host. Among the five MerR family regulators, MlrA was found to significantly promote the colonization capacity of V. cholerae in infant mice. Furthermore, we revealed that MlrA increases bacterial intestinal colonization by directly enhancing the expression of tcpA, which encodes one of the most important virulence factors in V. cholerae, by binding to its promoter region. In addition, we revealed that during infection, mlrA is activated by anaerobic signals in the small intestine of the host through Fnr. In summary, our findings reveal a MlrA-mediated virulence regulation pathway that enables V. cholerae to sense environmental signals at the infection site to precisely activate virulence gene expression, thus providing useful insights into the pathogenic mechanisms of V. cholerae.

Hybrid modeling of perovskite light-emitting diodes with nanostructured emissive layers.

Perovskite light-emitting diodes (PeLEDs) have attracted much attention due to their superior performance. When a bottleneck of energy conversion efficiency is achieved with materials engineering, nanostructure incorporation proves to be a feasible approach to further improve device efficiencies via light extraction enhancement. The finite-difference time-domain simulation is widely used for optical analysis of nanostructured optoelectronic devices, but reliable modeling of PeLEDs with nanostructured emissive layers remains unmet due to the difficulty of locating dipole light sources. Herein we established a hybrid process for modeling light emission behaviors of such nanostructured PeLEDs by calibrating light source distribution through electrical simulations. This hybrid modeling method serves as a universal tool for structure optimization of light-emitting diodes with nanostructured emissive layers.

UFMylation Is Activated in Atherosclerosis of ApoE Knockout Mice.

UFMylation is a novel ubiquitin-like system that deals with complex and fine-tuned cellular activities and is closely related to endoplasmic reticulum stress. Our previous study indicated that UFMylation is activated in vascular remodeling models. However, the role of UFMylation in atherosclerosis (AS) is unclear. In this study, we investigated changes in UFMylation in ApoE knockout (ApoE-KO) mice. We found that UFMylation was significantly activated in ApoE-KO mice fed a high-fat diet for 46 weeks. Consistently we observed that vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) treated with oxidized low-density lipoprotein (oxLDL) showed UFMylation activation in a time-dependent manner. UFM1-overexpressing mice were generated using transgenic (Tg) technique and bred with ApoE-KO mice to generate ApoE-KO/UFM1-Tg mice. We found that the degree of AS did not vary compared with that of the control. Similarly, overexpression of active UFM1 failed to alter oxLDL-induced proliferation of VSMCs. These findings indicate that UFMylation is activated in AS, but overexpression of UFM1 does not alter the development of AS in ApoE-KO mice.