Innovative technology potentially offers new opportunities for booming self-learning markets in Taiwan. The advancement of mobile English-learning games has expedited the idea of self-learning by ...reducing time, space limitations, and anxiety (e.g., Technology phobia, English anxiety) that come with knowledge acquisition. This study offers a Uses and Gratification Expectancy Model (UGEM) to fill the gap of knowledge between mobile gaming and self-learning by investigating the potential variables (perceived mobile anxiety, perceived second language anxiety, perceived usefulness, and perceived playfulness) and examining how confirmation and gratification both affect adopters' continuance intention toward using mobile English-learning games. The study gathered data from Taiwanese university students after their adoption and practice with mobile English-learning games via a self-reporting survey questionnaire. Data collected from 1121 respondents in Taiwan was used to examine the research UGEM model using a variance analysis approach to provide new insights to the self-learning taking place when mobile English-learning games are adopted. Theoretical and practical implications are also offered.
•Mobile English-learning games offer new opportunities for booming self-learning markets.•The UGEM model developed for this research is an effective tool to evaluate innovative mobile technology learning.•This study provides insights into what kind of self-learning takes place when mobile English-learning games are adopted.•It further adds to the body of research on gender differences within UGEM when adopting mobile English-learning games.
Inverted OPV devices based on sol‐gel derived vanadium oxides (VOx) as an interfacial layer are demonstrated. The VOx shows excellent characteristics as a hole‐transporting and protecting layer. The ...constructed devices exhibit enhanced performance with the studied polymers and are highly durable under accelerated conditions for long time periods.
Carbonized bamboo‐derived carbon nanodots (CNDs) as efficient additives for application in perovskite solar cells (PSCs) are reported. These carboxylic acid‐ and hydroxyl‐rich CNDs interact with the ...perovskite through hydrogen bonds and, thereby, promote the carriers' lifetimes and realize high‐performance p–i–n PSCs having the structure indium tin oxide/NiOx/CH3NH3PbI3 (MAPbI3)/PC61BM/BCP/Ag. As a result of interactions between the CNDs and the perovskite, the presence of the nonvolatile CND additive increases the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of the PSC from 14.48% ± 0.39% to 16.47% ± 0.26%. Furthermore, adding urea, a Lewis base, increases the PCE to 20.2%—the result of a significant increase in the crystal size and a lower content of grain boundary defects and, therefore, longer carrier lifetimes. Cells containing these two additives (without encapsulation) exhibit excellent shelf‐life and air‐stability, maintaining their high PCEs after storage in air—at a temperature of 25 °C and a humidity of 40%—for over 500 h. This performance is among of the best ever reported for p–i–n PSC devices incorporating carbon‐based additives.
High‐performance air‐stable perovskite solar cells are obtained after embedding carbon nanodots and urea into the perovskite. The best device performance features a power conversion efficiency of 20.2%, with negligible hysteresis. The devices displays excellent air‐stability for over 500 h without any encapsulation under 40% humidity (25 °C).
The videos on YouTube come either from mass media or are created and uploaded by amateur individuals. This study focused on how amateur individuals explore their digital self and establish parasocial ...interaction with others via YouTube videos. Drawing upon in-depth interviews with 45 participants (11 females and 34 males), our data demonstrate that YouTube is a consumer narrative where multiple digital selves and parasocial relationships are made comprehensible. It also unfolds the complex process of forming one’s digital self and parasocial relationships on YouTube by undergoing three main phases: digital self-construction, digital-self presentation strategies, and parasocial relationship developments that are managed by digital-self images. The results suggest that YouTube is a set of cultural values in terms of symbolic meanings in everyday life that are essential for consumers to digitally self-construct, self-present, and parasocially interact with online viewers.
Depleting regulatory T cells (T
cells) to counteract immunosuppressive features of the tumor microenvironment (TME) is an attractive strategy for cancer treatment; however, autoimmunity due to ...systemic impairment of their suppressive function limits its therapeutic potential. Elucidating approaches that specifically disrupt intratumoral T
cells is direly needed for cancer immunotherapy. We found that CD36 was selectively upregulated in intrautumoral T
cells as a central metabolic modulator. CD36 fine-tuned mitochondrial fitness via peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-β signaling, programming T
cells to adapt to a lactic acid-enriched TME. Genetic ablation of Cd36 in T
cells suppressed tumor growth accompanied by a decrease in intratumoral T
cells and enhancement of antitumor activity in tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes without disrupting immune homeostasis. Furthermore, CD36 targeting elicited additive antitumor responses with anti-programmed cell death protein 1 therapy. Our findings uncover the unexplored metabolic adaptation that orchestrates the survival and functions of intratumoral T
cells, and the therapeutic potential of targeting this pathway for reprogramming the TME.
The metabolic challenges present in tumors attenuate the metabolic fitness and antitumor activity of tumor-infiltrating T lymphocytes (TILs). However, it remains unclear whether persistent metabolic ...insufficiency can imprint permanent T cell dysfunction. We found that TILs accumulated depolarized mitochondria as a result of decreased mitophagy activity and displayed functional, transcriptomic and epigenetic characteristics of terminally exhausted T cells. Mechanistically, reduced mitochondrial fitness in TILs was induced by the coordination of T cell receptor stimulation, microenvironmental stressors and PD-1 signaling. Enforced accumulation of depolarized mitochondria with pharmacological inhibitors induced epigenetic reprogramming toward terminal exhaustion, indicating that mitochondrial deregulation caused T cell exhaustion. Furthermore, supplementation with nicotinamide riboside enhanced T cell mitochondrial fitness and improved responsiveness to anti-PD-1 treatment. Together, our results reveal insights into how mitochondrial dynamics and quality orchestrate T cell antitumor responses and commitment to the exhaustion program.
A common metabolic alteration in the tumor microenvironment (TME) is lipid accumulation, a feature associated with immune dysfunction. Here, we examined how CD8+ tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) ...respond to lipids within the TME. We found elevated concentrations of several classes of lipids in the TME and accumulation of these in CD8+ TILs. Lipid accumulation was associated with increased expression of CD36, a scavenger receptor for oxidized lipids, on CD8+ TILs, which also correlated with progressive T cell dysfunction. Cd36−/− T cells retained effector functions in the TME, as compared to WT counterparts. Mechanistically, CD36 promoted uptake of oxidized low-density lipoproteins (OxLDL) into T cells, and this induced lipid peroxidation and downstream activation of p38 kinase. Inhibition of p38 restored effector T cell functions in vitro, and resolution of lipid peroxidation by overexpression of glutathione peroxidase 4 restored functionalities in CD8+ TILs in vivo. Thus, an oxidized lipid-CD36 axis promotes intratumoral CD8+ T cell dysfunction and serves as a therapeutic avenue for immunotherapies.
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•The tumor microenvironment is enriched with lipids and oxidized lipids•Dysfunctional CD8+ TILs increase CD36 expression and OxLDL uptake•OxLDL uptake via CD36 inhibits T cell effector functions through lipid peroxidation•GPX4 overexpression promotes CD8+ TIL functionality
Lipid accumulation is a common metabolic alteration in the tumor microenvironment. Xu et al. show that intratumoral CD8+ T cells adapt to increased lipid concentrations by increasing expression of the scavenger receptor CD36. This, in turn, leads to intracellular accumulation of oxidized lipid and T cell dysfunction downstream of lipid peroxidation.
We have demonstrated two novel donor–acceptor–donor (D–A–D) hole‐transport material (HTM) with spirofluorene‐9,9′‐phenanthren‐10′‐one as the core structure, which can be synthesized through a ...low‐cost process in high yield. Compared to the incorporation of the conventional HTM of commonly used 2,2′,7,7′‐tetrakisN,N‐di(4‐methoxyphenyl)amino‐9,9′‐spirobifluorene (Spiro‐OMeTAD), the synthesis process is greatly simplified for the presented D–A–D materials, including a minimum number of purification processes. This results in an increased production yield (>55 %) and suppressed production cost (<30 $ g−1), in addition to high power conversion efficiency (PCE) in perovskite solar cells (PSCs). The PCE of a PSC using our D–A–D HTM reaches 16.06 %, similar to that of Spiro‐OMeTAD (16.08 %), which is attributed to comparable hole mobility and charge‐transfer efficiency. D–A–D HTMs also provide better moisture resistivity to prolong the lifetime of PSCs under ambient conditions relative to their Spiro‐OMeTAD counterparts. The proposed new type of D–A–D HTM has shown promising performance as an alternative HTM for PSCs and can be synthesized with high production throughput.
DAD transport material: A donor–acceptor–donor (D–A–D) hole‐transporting material (HTM) is designed, synthesized, and tested in perovskite solar cells (PSCs). The spirofluorene‐9,9′‐phenanthren‐10′‐one‐based structure was attained through facile synthesis using low‐cost starting materials in high yield. These HTMs exhibited 16.06 % power conversion efficiency in PSCs, similar to that of the commonly used Spiro‐OMeTAD (16.08 %), but with improved stability.
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