Dual-Interface Solar Evaporator with Highly-Efficient Thermal Regulation via Suspended Multilayer Design.

Facing the increasing global shortage of freshwater resources, this study presents a suspended multilayer evaporator (SMLE), designed to tackle the principal issues plaguing current solar-driven interfacial evaporation technologies, specifically, substantial thermal losses and limited water production. This approach, through the implementation of a multilayer structural design, enables superior thermal regulation throughout the evaporation process. This evaporator consists of a radiation damping layer, a photothermal conversion layer, and a bottom layer that leverages radiation, wherein the bottom layer exhibits a notable infrared emissivity. The distinctive feature of the design effectively reduces radiative heat loss and facilitates dual-interface evaporation by heating the water surface through mid-infrared radiation. The refined design leads to a notable evaporation rate of 2.83 kg m-2 h-1. Numerical simulations and practical performance evaluations validate the effectiveness of the multilayer evaporator in actual use scenarios. This energy-recycling and dual-interface evaporation multilayered approach propels the design of high-efficiency solar-driven interfacial evaporators forward, presenting new insights into developing effective water-energy transformation systems.

Nonequilibrium electron-phonon coupling across the interfaces between Al nanofilm and GaN.

The metal Al is commonly attached to external circuits as the source and drain in GaN-based field effect transistors, so profound comprehension of the energy transfer between electrons and phonons in Al/GaN is crucial for nanofabrication and thermal management of electronic devices. Time-domain thermoreflectance (TDTR) is an effective technique for measuring the strength of non-equilibrium electron-phonon (e-ph) coupling. The two-temperature model (TTM) is widely employed in conjunction with TDTR methods to determine e-ph coupling factors. However, TTM is a gray method and cannot take into account interactions between electrons and different phonon modes. Therefore, in this work, we use the TDTR technique to analyze the non-equilibrium transport properties of pure Al and the thickness dependence of the e-ph coupling with Al nanofilms, and the coupling strengths of high-energy electrons excited by femtosecond lasers with different modes of phonons are obtained in conjunction with MTM. The results show that the e-ph coupling coefficients of Al nanofilms on GaN substrates are larger than those of pure Al. In conjunction with the TTM, we determined the coupling strength between high-energy electrons excited by femtosecond laser pulses and various phonon modes. Compared to the transverse acoustic branch-1 (TA1) and transverse acoustic branch-2 (TA2) modes, the longitudinal acoustic (LA) phonon mode of Al exhibits a higher e-ph coupling factor. This suggests that the LA mode predominates in the electron relaxation process after ultrafast femtosecond laser excitation. This study provides experimental and theoretical guidance for laser processing and electronic device design.

High-temperature and high-pressure thermal property measurements of SiO2 crystals.

The investigation of materials' behavior under high-temperature and high-pressure conditions, such as the correlation with structural characteristics and thermal properties, holds significant importance. However, the challenges associated with the experimental implementation have, to a certain extent, constrained such research endeavors. We utilized the ultrafast laser based non-contact thermal measurement method combined with an externally heated moissanite-anvil-cell to characterize the thermal conductivity of [10-10] oriented SiO2 crystals under high temperature (300-830 K) and high pressure (0-15 GPa) conditions. We investigated the impact of extreme conditions on the microstructure from both Raman spectroscopy and thermal perspectives. The presence of kinetic hindrances associated with the transformation of α-quartz to coesite and stishovite was identified and confirmed. It expands the comprehension and application of the SiO2 pressure-temperature phase diagram in this range and provides insights into the intricate relationship between extreme environments and material structure formation through the analysis of thermal characteristics.

Ionization Engineering of Hydrogels Enables Highly Efficient Salt-Impeded Solar Evaporation and Night-Time Electricity Harvesting.

Interfacial solar evaporation holds immense potential for brine desalination with low carbon footprints and high energy utilization. Hydrogels, as a tunable material platform from the molecular level to the macroscopic scale, have been considered the most promising candidate for solar evaporation. However, the simultaneous achievement of high evaporation efficiency and satisfactory tolerance to salt ions in brine remains a challenging scientific bottleneck, restricting the widespread application. Herein, we report ionization engineering, which endows polymer chains of hydrogels with electronegativity for impeding salt ions and activating water molecules, fundamentally overcoming the hydrogel salt-impeded challenge and dramatically expediting water evaporating in brine. The sodium dodecyl benzene sulfonate-modified carbon black is chosen as the solar absorbers. The hydrogel reaches a ground-breaking evaporation rate of 2.9 kg m-2 h-1 in 20 wt% brine with 95.6% efficiency under one sun irradiation, surpassing most of the reported literature. More notably, such a hydrogel-based evaporator enables extracting clean water from oversaturated salt solutions and maintains durability under different high-strength deformation or a 15-day continuous operation. Meantime, on the basis of the cation selectivity induced by the electronegativity, we first propose an all-day system that evaporates during the day and generates salinity-gradient electricity using waste-evaporated brine at night, anticipating pioneer a new opportunity for all-day resource-generating systems in fields of freshwater and electricity.

Soft phonon modes lead to suppressed thermal conductivity in Ag-based chalcopyrites under high pressure.

Pressure is a powerful way to modulate physical properties. Understanding the effect of pressure on the thermal transport properties of thermoelectric materials is of great importance for the efficient design and optimization of thermoelectric performance. In this work, based on first-principles calculations and phonon Boltzmann transport theory, we find that the lattice thermal conductivities of Ag-based chalcopyrites AgXY2 (X = Al, Ga, and In; Y = S, Se, and Te) are dramatically suppressed by applying pressure. The inherent distorted tetrahedral configuration together with highly delocalized p-orbital electrons promotes the formation of metavalent bonding. The fact of metavalent bonding with a single bonding electron and small electron transfer between neighboring atoms leads to soft low-frequency optical phonons. With the increase of pressure, the softening of acoustic and low-frequency optical phonons induces enhanced anharmonicity and scattering channels. Such strong acoustic-optical phonon coupling results in larger phonon scattering rates and thus lowers the lattice thermal conductivity. These findings not only help unveil the underlying physical mechanisms for the anomalous thermal transport behaviors under high pressure, but also pave the way for the pressure tuning of high-performance Ag-based thermoelectric materials.

Heat Transport in Clathrate Hydrates Controlled by Guest Frequency and Host-Guest Interaction.

The underlying mechanism of common limited lattice thermal conductivity (κ) in energy-related host-guest crystalline compounds has been an ongoing topic in recent decades. Here, the guest-triggered intrinsic ultralow κ of the representative xenon clathrate hydrate was investigated using the time domain thermoreflectance technique and theoretical calculations. The localized guest modes were observed to hybridize with acoustic branches and severely limit the acoustic κ contribution. Besides, the strong mode coupling enables the reshaping of the overall lattice dynamics, especially for optical branches. More importantly, we identified that guest fillers prompt great phonon scattering in wide frequencies, which originates from both the guest-frequency-controlled enhancement of phase space and the host-guest-interaction-governed lattice anharmonicity. The extremely low guest frequency and strong host-guest interaction and coupling were thereby underlined to play vital but distinct roles in κ minimization. Our results unveil the dominant factors of guest reduction effects and facilitate the design of efficient thermoelectric or other thermal-related materials.

Frictional properties of MoS2 on a multi-level rough wall under starved lubrication.

Owing to nano-MoS2's excellent anti-friction and anti-wear properties, nano-MoS2, which can act as a nano-additive in lubricating oil or solid lubricants, is believed to have great potential in the lubrication of power machinery and moving parts of a spacecraft. The molecular dynamics method was used to construct a rough surface and a multi-level asperity structure to simulate starved lubrication before oil film breakdown, and the lubrication mechanism of MoS2 as a nano-additive or directly coated on the textured surface could reduce the friction coefficient and wear was explained from the atomic perspective. Simulations showed that the multilayer MoS2 played a role of load-bearing at light load or low velocity, and slipped into the grooves to repair the surface under heavy load or high velocity. Even if local asperity contact occurs, MoS2 nanoparticles could accelerate the detachment of the initial asperity contact to prevent large-scale adhesion. The MoS2 nanoparticles transformed the pure liquid oil film into a liquid-solid composite oil film, which was more suitable for lubrication under heavy load and high velocity because it increased the contact area, protected the friction surface and prevented asperity contact. The proposed lubrication mechanism contributes to understanding the frictional properties of layered nanomaterials under extreme conditions and provides a reference for further application of MoS2 materials in the field of lubrication.

Tensile strain and finite size modulation of low lattice thermal conductivity in monolayer TMDCs (HfSe2 and ZrS2) from first-principles: a comparative study.

With excellent physical and chemical properties, 2D TMDC materials have been widely used in engineering applications, but they inevitably suffer from the dual effects of strain and device size. As typical 2D TMDCs, HfSe2 and ZrS2 are reported to have excellent thermoelectric properties. Thermal transport properties have great significance for exerting the performance of materials, ensuring device lifetime and stable operation, but current research is not detailed enough. Here, first-principles combined with the phonon Boltzmann transport equation are used to study the phonon transport inside monolayer HfSe2 and ZrS2 under tensile strain and finite size, and explore the band structure properties. Our research shows that they have similar phonon dispersion curve structures, and the band gap of HfSe2 increases monotonically with the increase of tensile strain, while the bandgap of ZrS2 increases and then decreases with the increase of tensile strain. Thermal conductivity has obvious strain dependence: with the increase of tensile strain, the thermal conductivity of HfSe2 gradually decreases, while that of ZrS2 increases slightly, and then gradually decreases. Reducing the system size can limit the contribution of phonons with a long mean free path, significantly decreasing thermal conductivity through the controlling effect of tensile strain. The mode contribution of thermal conductivity is systematically investigated, and anharmonic properties including mode and frequency-level scattering rates, group velocity and Grüneisen parameters are used to explain the associated mechanism. Phonon scattering processes and channels in various cases are discussed in detail. Our research provides a detailed understanding of the phonon transport and electronic structural properties of low thermal conductivity monolayers of HfSe2 and ZrS2, and further completes the study of thermal transport of the two materials under strain and size tuning, which will provide a foundation for further popularization and application.

Polarized angle-resolved spectral reflectometry for real-time ultra-thin film measurement.

We propose a polarized, angle-resolved spectral (PARS) reflectometry for simultaneous thickness and refractive-index measurement of ultra-thin films in real time. This technology acquires a two-dimensional, angle-resolved spectrum through a dual-angle analyzer in a single shot by radially filtering the back-focal-plane image of a high-NA objective for dispersion analysis. Thus, film parameters, including thickness and refractive indices, are precisely fitted from the hyper-spectrum in angular and wavelength domains. Through a high-accuracy spectral calibration, a primary PARS system was built. Its accuracy was carefully verified by testing a set of SiO2 thin films of thicknesses within two µm grown on monocrystalline-Si substrates against a commercial spectroscopic ellipsometer. Results show that the single-shot PARS reflectometry results in a root-mean-square absolute accuracy error of ∼1 nm in film thickness measurement without knowing its refractive indices.

High-Performance, Highly Stretchable, Flexible Moist-Electric Generators via Molecular Engineering of Hydrogels.

Harvesting energy from ubiquitous moisture has emerged as a promising technology, offering opportunities to power wearable electronics. However, low current density and inadequate stretching limit their integration into self-powered wearables. Herein, a high-performance, highly stretchable, and flexible moist-electric generator (MEG) is developed via molecular engineering of hydrogels. The molecular engineering involves the impregnation of lithium ions and sulfonic acid groups into the polymer molecular chains to create ion-conductive and stretchable hydrogels. This new strategy fully leverages the molecular structure of polymer chains, circumventing the addition of extra elastomers or conductors. A centimeter-sized hydrogel-based MEG can generate an open-circuit voltage of 0.81 V and a short-circuit current density of up to 480 µA cm-2 . This current density is more than ten times that of most reported MEGs. Moreover, molecular engineering improves the mechanical properties of hydrogels, resulting in a stretchability of 506%, representing the state-of-the-art level in reported MEGs. Notably, large-scale integration of the high-performance and stretchable MEGs is demonstrated to power wearables with integrated electronics, including respiration monitoring masks, smart helmets, and medical suits. This work provides fresh insights into the design of high-performance and stretchable MEGs, facilitating their application to self-powered wearables and broadening the application scenario.

Stratospheric aerosol lidar with a 300†µm diameter superconducting nanowire single-photon detector at 1064†nm.

Stratospheric aerosols play an important role in the atmospheric chemical and radiative balance. To detect the stratospheric aerosol layer, a 1064 nm lidar with high resolution and large dynamic range is developed using a superconducting nanowire single-photon detector (SNSPD). Measurements are typically performed at 1064 nm for its sensitivity to aerosol, whereas detectors are limited by low efficiency and high dark count rate (DCR). SNSPDs are characterized by high efficiency in the infrared wavelength domain, as well as low noise and dead time, which can significantly enhance the signal quality. However, it is still challenging to build an SNSPD with both large active area and high count rate. To improve the maximal count rate (MCR) so as to avoid saturation in the near range, a 16-pixel interleaved SNSPD array and a multichannel data acquisition system are developed. As a reference, a synchronous system working at 532 nm is applied. In a continuous comparison experiment, backscatter ratio profiles are retrieved with resolutions of 90 m/3 min, and the 1064 nm system shows better performance, which is sensitive to aerosols and immune to the contamination of the ozone absorption and density of molecule change in the lower stratosphere.

Ion-Transfer Engineering via Janus Hydrogels Enables Ultrahigh Performance and Salt-Resistant Solar Desalination.

Emerging solar interfacial evaporation offers the most promising response to the severe freshwater crisis. However, the most challenging bottleneck is the conflict between resisting salt accumulation and maintaining high evaporation performance since conventional salt-resistant evaporators enhance water flow to remove salt, leading to tremendous heat loss. Herein, an ion-transfer engineering is proposed via a Janus ion-selective hydrogel that enables ion-electromigration salt removal, breaking the historical dependence on water convection, and significantly lowering the heat loss. The hydrogels drive cations downward and anions upward, away from the evaporation surfaces. An electrical potential is thus established inside the evaporator and salt in 15 wt% brine is removed stably for seven days. A record-high evaporation rate of 6.86 kg m-2  h-1 in 15 wt% brine, 2.5 times the previously reported works, is achieved. With the from-scratch salt-resistant route, comprehensive water-thermal analysis, and record-high performance, this work holds great potential for the future salt-resistant evaporators.

Application and curative effect of laparoscopic purse-string sutures in the treatment of adult acute complicated appendicitis.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of laparoscopic purse-string sutures in adult complicated appendicitis treatment. METHODS: The data of 568 adult cases of complicated appendicitis treated by laparoscopic appendectomy at the Hefei Second People's Hospital, Anhui Province, China, from September 2018 to September 2021 were analysed retrospectively. The patients were divided into two groups: 295 cases in the laparoscopic purse-string suture treatment group (observation group) and 273 cases in the simple Hem-o-lok® clamp treatment group (control group). The baseline data collected included age, gender, preoperative body temperature, leukocyte count and percentage of neutrophils and the surgery time. The postoperative data collected included antibiotic treatment duration, drainage tube placement time and the incidence of complications. RESULTS: There were no significant differences in the baseline data of the two groups, including age, gender, preoperative body temperature, leukocyte count and neutrophil percentage (all P > 0.05). Compared with the control group, the postoperative hospital length of stay, duration of antibiotic treatment, the recovery time of peripheral white blood cell and neutrophil counts and the incidence of postoperative complications in the observation group were significantly decreased (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Purse-string sutures can effectively reduce the incidence of postoperative complications after a laparoscopic appendectomy for adult acute complicated appendicitis. There was faster postoperative recovery when patients' appendiceal stumps were treated with laparoscopic purse-string sutures.

Phonon transport mechanism of HfO2ultrathin film with temperature-correction full-band Monte Carlo simulation.

Hafnium dioxide (HfO2) has been widely used in microelectronics nowadays and commonly withstands extremely high temperatures, so the investigation of its thermodynamic properties is particularly essential. This paper develops a temperature-correction full-band Monte Carlo (TFMC) method to investigate the HfO2ultrathin film. The phonon dynamics parameters of HfO2are calculated based on the first-principles method. TFMC can better describe the phonon cumulative distribution function in different temperatures by modifying the phonon relaxation time and heat capacity. The thermal conductivity of HfO2ultrathin film is calculated based on the above method and is in good agreement with the literature. It is observed that the optical phonons in HfO2ultrathin film are prominent in the phonon heat transport, which is quite different from the mechanism in common semiconductor materials. Combined with the full-band diffuse mismatch model, the Si-based HfO2ultrathin film is studied. It is found that the existence of the interface with substrates improves the thermodynamic properties of the ultrathin film, which provides a reference for the selection of substrate materials.

Fringe projection profilometry method with high efficiency, precision, and convenience: theoretical analysis and development.

Fringe projector profilometry (FPP) is an important three-dimensional (3D) measurement technique, especially when high precision and speed are required. Thus, theoretical interrogation is critical to provide deep understanding and possible improvement of FPP. By dividing an FPP measurement process into four steps (system calibration, phase measurement, pixel correspondence, and 3D reconstruction), we give theoretical analysis on the entire process except for the extensively studied calibration step. Our study indeed reveals a series of important system properties, to the best of our knowledge, for the first time: (i) in phase measurement, the optimal and worst fringe angles are proven perpendicular and parallel to epipolar line, respectively, and can be considered as system parameters and can be directly made available during traditional calibration, highlighting the significance of the epipolar line; (ii) in correspondence, when two sets of fringes with different fringe orientations are projected, the highest correspondence precision can be achieved with arbitrary orientations as long as these two orientations are perpendicular to each other; (iii) in reconstruction, a higher reconstruction precision is given by the 4-equation methods, while we notice that the 3-equation methods are almost dominatingly used in literature. Based on these theoretical results, we propose a novel FPP measurement method which (i) only projects one set of fringes with optimal fringe angle to explicitly work together with the epipolar line for precise pixel correspondence; (ii) for the first time, the optimal fringe angle is determined directly from the calibration parameters, instead of being measured; (iii) uses 4 equations for precise 3D reconstruction but we can remove one equation which is equivalent to an epipolar line, making it the first algorithm that can use 3-equation solution to achieve 4-equation precision. Our method is efficient (only one set of fringe patterns is required in projection and the speed is doubled in reconstruction), precise (in both pixel correspondence and 3D reconstruction), and convenient (the computable optimal fringe angle and a closed-form 3-equation solution). We also believe that our work is insightful in revealing fundamental FPP properties, provides a more reasonable measurement for practice, and thus is beneficial to further FPP studies.

Correlation between Endometrial Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Expression and Pregnancy Outcome of Frozen-Thawed Embryo Transfer in Patients with Repeated Implantation Failure.

Objective: Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is a well-known angiogenic factor that is essential to numerous physiological and pathological processes. VEGF also contributes to embryo implantation by promoting embryo development, enhancing endometrial receptivity (ER), and promoting interactions between the endometrium and developing embryo. Changes in VEGF expression are linked to repeated implantation failure (RIF). Control endometrial tissues demonstrated an increase in VEGF expression during the implant window period, which promoted early villous vascularization and embryo implantation. The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between RIF and the expression of ER markers, such as VEGF during the implantation window stage. Methods: The Yinchuan Maternal and Child Health Hospital collected 192 cases of FET endometrial tissues in the implantation window stage between January 2019 and December 2021. Immunohistochemistry was utilized to measure the levels of VEGF expression in patients with RIF (RIF group, n = 82) and patients with a successful pregnancy (control group, n = 110). The relationship between VEGF and the RIF group was analyzed using Spearman's correlation coefficient. Results: VEGF levels were significantly lower during the implantation window stage (P < 0.05). Conclusion: VEGF was expressed in planting window stage. The decrease of VEGF during the implantation window was correlated with RIF.

Profile analysis with reconstruction robustness for measurement data subject to outliers.

In the surface profile analysis, there are often a few observations that contain outliers. Due to the existence of outliers, the application of non-robust reconstruction algorithms for measurement data will become a huge problem because these methods are often sensitive to outliers and the approximation effectiveness will be greatly aggravated. In view of this, this paper presents a novel angle-based moving total least squares reconstruction method, to the best of our knowledge, that applies two-step pre-treatment to handle outliers. The first step is an abnormal point detection process that characterizes the geometric features of discrete points in the support domain through a new angle-based parameter constructed by total least square. Then, the point with the largest anomaly degree is removed, and a relevant weight function is defined to adjust the weights of the remaining points. After pre-treatment, the final estimates are calculated by weighted total least squares (WTLS) based on the compact weight function. The detection and removal of outliers are automatic, and there is no need to set a threshold value artificially, which effectively avoids the adverse impacts of human operation. Numerical simulations and experiments verify the applicability of the proposed algorithm as well as its accuracy and robustness.

Superaerophobic Resin-Grafted rGO Aerogel with Boosted Product Removal Delivering High-Performance Hydrogen Release at Ultrahigh Storage Density.

Liquid hydrogen carriers featuring high hydrogen content, safety, and hydrogen release on demand have motivated great endeavors for sustainable hydrogen supply. Nonetheless, direct hydrogen release is limited by the ultralow hydrogen evolution rate, while the conventional manner of extra additive and solvent addition for promoting rates greatly deteriorates its hydrogen storage density. Thus, it is still challenging to simultaneously satisfy high-performance hydrogen release and high storage density. Herein, an aerophobicity surface-based gas-liquid interface reaction strategy is proposed, which renders rapid product removal to promote dehydrogenation, fundamentally circumventing the employment of additives and solvents. Accordingly, a hierarchically porous resin-grafted reduced graphene oxide aerogel is designed. It imparts superaerophobic surface to facilitate product detachment from reactive sites, and the structure-oriented interface reaction design provides product diffusion channels and reduced diffusion resistance. As a result, the aerogel harvests a record hydrogen evolution rate (347 mmol g-1  h-1 ) in an ultrahigh-density formic acid of 19.8 g L-1 , around two times the rate promotion and ten times the density improvement compared to the state-of-the-art materials and systems. The strategy presents an approach for the dehydrogenation of liquid hydrogen carriers, e.g., formic acid, formaldehyde, and hydrazine hydrate, concurrently ensuring high-performance hydrogen release and high hydrogen storage density.

Novel insights into lattice thermal transport in nanocrystalline Mg3Sb2 from first principles: the crucial role of higher-order phonon scattering.

Zintl phase Mg3Sb2, which has ultra-low thermal conductivity, is a promising anisotropic thermoelectric material. It is worth noting that the prediction and experiment value of lattice thermal conductivity (κ) maintain a remarkable difference, troubling the development and application. Thus, we firstly included the four-phonon scattering processes effect and performed the Peierls-Boltzmann transport equation (PBTE) combined with the first-principles lattice dynamics to study the lattice thermal transport in Mg3Sb2. The results showed that our theoretically predicted κ is consistent with the experimentally measured, breaking through the limitations of the traditional calculation methods. The prominent four-phonon scatterings decreased phonon lifetime, leading to the κ of Mg3Sb2 at 300 K from 2.45 (2.58) W m-1 K-1 to 1.94 (2.19) W m-1 K-1 along the in (cross)-plane directions, respectively, and calculation accuracy increased by 20%. This study successfully explains the lattice thermal transport behind mechanism in Mg3Sb2 and implies guidance to advance the prediction accuracy of thermoelectric materials.

Graphene Layer Number-Dependent Heat Transport across Nickel/Graphene/Nickel Interfaces.

As a typical two-dimensional material, graphene (Gr) has shown great potential to be used in thermal management applications due to its ultrahigh in-plane thermal conductivity (k). However, low interface thermal conductance (ITC) between Gr and metals to a large extent limits the effective heat dissipation in Gr-based devices. Therefore, having a deep understanding on heat transport at Gr-metal interfaces is essential. Because of the semimetallic nature of Gr, electrons would possibly play a role in the heat transport across Gr-metal interfaces as heat carriers, whereas, However, how much the electron can participate in this process and how to optimize the total ITC considering both electron and phonon transportations have not yet been revealed yet. Therefore, in this work, hydrogenation-treated Gr (H-Gr) was sandwiched by nickel (Ni) nanofilms to compare with the samples containing pure Gr for investigating the interfacial electron behaviors. Moreover, both Gr and H-Gr sets of the samples were prepared with different layer numbers (N) ranging from 1 to 7, and the corresponding ITC was systematically studied based on both time-domain thermoreflectance measurements and theoretical calculations. We found that a larger ITC can be obtained when N is low, and the ITC may reach a peak value when N is 2 in certain circumstances. The present findings not only provide a comprehensive understanding on heat transport across Gr-metal interfaces byconsidering a combined effect of the interfacial interaction strength, phonon mode mismatch, and electron contributions, but also shed new lights on interface strucure optimiazations of Gr-based devices.