“Fata Morgana” or “Mirage” phenomena have long been captivated as optical illusions, which actually relies on gradient‐density air or vapor. Man‐made optical illusions have witnessed significant ...progress by resorting to artificially structured metamaterials. Nevertheless, two long‐standing challenges remain formidable: first, exotic parameters (negative or less than unity) become inevitable; second, the signature of original object is altered to that of a virtual counterpart. It is thus not able to address the holy grail of illusion per se, since a single virtual object still exposes the location. In this study, those problems are successfully addressed in a particular setup—illusion thermotics, which identically mimics the exterior thermal behavior of an equivalent reference and splits the interior original heat source into many virtual signatures. A general paradigm to design thermal illusion metadevices is proposed to manipulate thermal conduction, and empower robust simultaneous functions of moving, shaping, rotating, and splitting heat sources of arbitrary cross sections. The temperature profile inside the thermal metadevice can mislead the awareness of the real location, shape, size, and number of the actual heat sources. The present concept may trigger unprecedented development in other physical fields to realize multiple functionalized illusions in optics, electromagnetics, etc.
Existing optical/thermal illusions fail to address the holy grail of illusion per se, since a single virtual object still exposes the location. A solution to this problem is found in illusion thermotics, which identically mimics the exterior thermal behavior of an equivalent reference and splits the interior original heat source into many virtual signatures to enhance the deceptiveness unprecedentedly.
The rapid development of digital technology significantly impacts the use of cell phone interfaces by the elderly. This paper aims to analyze the interaction design of cell phone interfaces for the ...elderly to enhance their user experience and ease of use. This paper investigates the evaluation system for evaluating cell phone interface interaction for the elderly, including interface size, Layout, and functionality. A group of elderly people aged 65-75 are invited to evaluate the effects of different design options by observing their performance under different interface sizes (large size 6.0 inches, medium size 5.5 inches, small size 4.5 inches) and layouts (nine-cell grid and combination type). The evaluation metrics are task completion time, number of operation errors, and eye movement data. The 6.0-inch interface experienced an average task completion time of 6.97 seconds, a decrease of approximately 6 seconds and 1 second from the 4.5-inch and 5.5-inch interfaces, respectively. The large-size interface had an average error rate of 1.11 per task, significantly less than the average error rate in the 4.5-inch and 5.5-inch interfaces. The more extensive interface significantly decreased user gaze points and gaze time, indicating more efficient information acquisition. More extensive cell phone interfaces and combined layouts can significantly improve interaction efficiency and reduce operation errors for elderly users, enhancing user experience. The findings of this study offer practical guidance for designing cell phone interfaces for the elderly and aid in promoting cell phone interface design for the elderly.
Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a global health problem in which gut microbiota dysbiosis plays an important pathogenic role. However, the current drugs for IBD treatment are far from optimal. ...Previous researches indicated that parthenolide (PTL) had not only anti-cancer properties but also strong anti-inflammatory activities.
: To investigate the protective effect of PTL on colon inflammation and demonstrate the underlying gut microbiota-dependent mechanism.
Colon inflammation severity in mouse model was measured by body weight change, mortality, colon length, disease activity index (DAI) score, H&E staining and colonoscopy evaluation. Gut microbiota alteration and short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) production were analyzed through 16S rRNA sequencing and targeted metabolomics. Luminex cytokine microarray and Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) were conducted to measure the colon cytokines profile. The frequency of immune cells in lamina propria (LP) and spleen were phenotyped by flow cytometry.
: The PTL-treated mice showed significantly relieved colon inflammation, as evidenced by a reduction in body weight loss, survival rate, shortening of colon length, DAI score, histology score and colonoscopy score. Notably, when the gut microbiota was depleted using antibiotic cocktails, the protective effect of PTL on colon inflammation disappeared. PTL treatment downregulated the level of proinflammatory cytokines, including IL-1β, TNF-α, IL-6, and IL-17A and upregulated the immunosuppressive cytokine IL-10 in colon tissue. 16S rRNA sequencing indicated that PTL-treated mice exhibited much more abundant gut microbial diversity and flora composition. Targeted metabolomics analysis manifested the increased SCFAs production in PTL-treated mice. Additionally, PTL administration selectively upregulated the frequency of colonic regulatory T (Treg) cells as well as downregulated the ratio of colonic T helper type 17 (Th17) cells, improving the Treg/Th17 balance to maintain intestinal homeostasis. Gut microbiota depletion and fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) was performed to confirm this gut microbiota-dependent mechanism.
: PTL ameliorated colon inflammation in a gut microbiota-dependent manner. The underlying protective mechanism was associated with the improved Treg/Th17 balance in intestinal mucosa mediated through the increased microbiota-derived SCFAs production. Collectively, our results demonstrated the role of PTL as a potential gut microbiota modulator to prevent and treat IBD.
Phase transition is a physical phenomenon that attracts great interest of researchers. Although the theory of second‐order phase transitions is well‐established, their atomic‐scale dynamics in ...polycrystalline materials remains elusive. In this work, second‐order phase transitions in polycrystalline Cu2Se at the transition temperature are directly observed by in situ aberration‐corrected transmission electron microscopy. Phase transitions in microcrystalline Cu2Se start at the grain boundaries and extend inside the grains. This phenomenon is more pronounced in nanosized grains. Analysis of phase transitions in nanocrystalline Cu2Se with different grain boundaries demonstrates that grain boundary energy dominates unsynchronized phase transition behavior. This suggests that the energy of grain boundaries is the key factor influencing the energetic barrier for initiation of phase transition. The findings advance atomic‐scale understanding of second‐order phase transitions, which is crucial for the control of this process in polycrystalline materials.
The second‐order phase transition behavior of the grains in the polycrystalline system is highly dependent on the surrounding grain boundaries environment. Atomic‐scale observations show that the dominating effect of different grain boundaries leads to coexistence of high‐ and low‐temperature phases of Cu2Se in one grain.
This paper focuses on yaw stability control of in-wheel-motored electric vehicle (EV), and a model predictive controller is designed based on holistic control structure via active front steering and ...motor torque distribution. By designing a suitable reference model, the controller stabilizes a vehicle along the desired states while rejecting skid and fulfilling its physical constraints, so this is described as a constrained tracking problem. To solve this, the holistic control scheme is built to simplify the hierarchical structure of the controller and directly optimize the control inputs of system. Based on holistic control structure and MPC method, an objective function with constraints is designed over a receding horizon to meet the control requirements. Finally, the proposed nonlinear model predictive controller is evaluated on eight degrees of freedom (8DOF) EV model offline simulation platform. Simulation results of different road maneuver on slippery surfaces show the benefits of the control methodology used.
High-temperature electrochemical sensors based on stabilized zirconia play an important role in the control of exhaust emissions and the improvement of product quality and productivity. This paper ...gives an overview about high temperature oxygen sensor, auxiliary electrode type sensor, and mixed potential gas sensor. The response theories of a variety of sensors are elucidated. The related measurement ranges and application examples of oxygen sensors are presented. Since air pollution regulations are being reinforced in many countries, the worldwide demand for oxygen sensors is expected to be growing. Without appropriate solid electrolyte, auxiliary electrode type sensors are developed for measuring phosphorus, sulfur, silicon, manganese and chromium in melt and CO2, NOx and SOx in gas. We have described recent advances in improving the sensitivity, selectivity and long-term stability of mixed potential gas sensors which could be obtained by selecting suitable SE materials. This paper also reviews the limiting factors in measurement, the properties of stabilized zirconia and the role of electrode configuration in electrochemical sensors.
•Paper presents a review of electrochemical sensors based on stabilized zirconia.•Limiting factors in measurements are discussed.•Critical work of the state-of-the-art in the electrochemical sensors is presented.•Electrode reaction at the TPB and gas diffusion within electrode are discussed.
Objective
The purpose of this study was to analyse the clinical and pathological characteristics, treatments and outcomes of post‐transplant lymphoproliferative disorder (PTLD) in paediatric liver ...transplant recipients.
Method
A retrospective analysis of records from nine paediatric liver transplant recipients with PTLD who were treated at our Liver Transplant Center over the period from June 2013 to August 2018.
Result
Of these nine patients, seven received liver transplantation in our centre and the remaining two patients at other hospitals. The overall incidence of PTLD in paediatric liver transplant recipients in our centre was 1.4% (7/485). The median onset of PTLD after liver transplantation was 11 months. Three cases were classified as infectious mononucleosis PTLD, one case was plasmacytic hyperplasia PTLD, one case was polymorphic PTLD and two cases were Burkitt lymphoma. One case showed diffuse large B‐cell lymphoma and one was classical Hodgkin lymphoma‐like PTLD. These patients presented with different clinical manifestations including fever, anaemia, diarrhoea, hypoproteinaemia, enlargement of lymph nodes, hepatosplenomegaly, jaundice, bowel obstruction and even intestinal perforation. Nine patients were positive for EBV‐DNA in serum. After diagnosis, immunosuppressants were reduced or discontinued in all cases. Eight patients received anti‐CD20 monoclonal antibody (Rituximab) therapy, four cases were treated with a combination of chemotherapy (R‐CHOP, ABVD, COPP/ABV) and one case was combined with radiotherapy. Two cases received surgical treatment due to bowel obstruction. Eight of these patients achieved a complete remission and remained healthy when assessed at the time of final follow‐up. One patient died as a result of PTLD progression.
Conclusion
PTLD is one of the most serious and fatal complications after liver transplantation. The definitive diagnosis requires histopathology. Treatment varies and basically includes immunosuppression reduction, anti‐CD20 antibody, surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy.
Background Body weight management was an important component in breast cancer survivorship care. The present study described the change patterns of body weight and waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) during the ...first 5 years of survival, and investigated potential factors associated with very substantial changes. Patients and methods Based on a longitudinal cohort with 1462 Chinese women with breast cancer, anthropometric measurements including body weight, height, waist and hip circumferences were measured by trained interviewers following standard protocol at four time-points: baseline at study entry, 18-, 36- and 60-months follow up assessments (termed as T0, T1, T2 and T3, respectively). Body height was measured at baseline and body weight at cancer diagnosis were retrieved from medical record. Results Compared to weight at breast cancer diagnosis, the median weight change was - 0.5 kg, 0 kg, + 0.5 kg, and + 1 kg at T0, T1, T2 and T3, respectively. During the first 5 years of survival, the proportion of women who were obese have slightly increased. At 60-months after diagnosis, only 14.3% of women had weight gain by > 5 kg; and the percentage of women who had weight gain by > 10% was 10.7%. Nearly half of patients had abdominal obesity at study entry, and this proportion were gradually increased to nearly 70% at 60-months follow-up. Multivariate analysis indicated that older age, and frequent sports participation during the first 5 years of survival were related to lower risk of very substantial weight gain (> 10%) at 60-month follow-up; patients aged 40-49 years, having greater than or equai to2 comorbidities and ER negative were associated with less likelihood of very substantial WHR substantial increase (> 10%) at 60-month follow-up. Conclusion Weight gain was modest in Chinese breast cancer survivors during the first 5 years of survival, while central adiposity has become a contemporary public health issue. The incorporation of healthy weight and abdominal circumference patient education and management has a potential to improve cancer survivorship. Keywords: Breast cancer, Body weight, Body mass index (BMI), Waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), Change, Chinese women
The geometry and dimension of a gold nanorod (GNR) are optimally designed to enhance the fluorescence intensity of a lanthanide-doped upconversion nanocrystal placed in close proximity to the GNR. A ...systematic study of the electromagnetic interaction between the upconversion emitter of three energy levels and the GNR shows that the enhancement effect arising from localized electric field-induced absorption can be balanced by the negative effect of electronic transition from an intermediate state to the ground state of the emitter. The dependence of fluorescence enhancement on the emitter-GNR separation is investigated, and the results demonstrate a maximum enhancement factor of 120 folds and 160 folds at emission wavelengths 650 and 540 nm, respectively. This is achieved at the emitter-GNR separation ranging from 5 to 15 nm, depending on the initial quantum efficiency of the emitter. The modified upconversion luminescence behavior by adjusting the aspect ratio of the GNR and the relative position of the emitter indicates the dominate role of excitation process in the total fluorescence enhancement. These findings are of great importance for rationally designing composite nanostructures of metal nanoparticles and upconversion nanocrystals with maximized plasmonic enhancement for bioimaging and sensing applications.
To compare change in level of physical activity between pre-and post- diagnosis of breast cancer in Chinese women.
Based on an on-going prospective study consisting of a sample of Chinese women with ...breast cancer, a validated modified Chinese Baecke questionnaire was used to measure physical activity at baseline (12 months before cancer diagnosis), 18-, 36- and 60-months after diagnosis (over the previous 12 months before each interview).
In our cohort of 1462 Chinese women with a mean age of 52 years, the mean level of physical activity at post-diagnosis was 9.6 metabolic equivalent of task (MET)-hours/week, which was significantly higher than that at pre-diagnosis with mean level of 5.9 MET-hours/week (P < 0.001). The mean levels of physical activity at 18-, 36- and 60-months follow-up were 9.9, 9.8 and 9.3 MET-hours/week, respectively. There was no significant difference between any two of the three follow-ups at post-diagnosis. The proportions of participant who met World Cancer Research Fund/ American Institute for Cancer Research (WCRF/AICR) recommendation before and after cancer diagnosis were both low, being 20.7 and 35.1%, respectively. Compared to pre-diagnosis, most of the patients improved or had no change on level of physical activity at post-diagnosis, with the respective proportion being 48.2 and 43.8%.
Adherence to current lifestyle recommendation for cancer survivors, Chinese women with breast cancer significantly increased level of physical activity level after cancer diagnosis, and such improvement was sustained to 5 years post-diagnosis. The proportion of patients who met the exercise recommendation for cancer survivors was still low. Encouraging patients on the importance of durable high level of physical activity in breast cancer survivorship is warranted.
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