[en] Layered oxide cathodes with a high-nickel (Ni ≥ 0.9) content exhibit great potential for enabling high-energy-density lithium-ion batteries. However, their practical feasibility and cycle life are hampered by severe surface reactivity with the electrolyte. A LiNi${}_{0.90}$Co${}_{0.05}$Al${}_{0.05}$O${}_2$ cathode is presented enriched with Al on the surface (S-NCA) and benchmark it against a LiNi${}_{0.90}$Co${}_{0.05}$Al${}_{0.05}$O${}_2$ cathode obtained by a conventional co-precipitation method that has a uniform Al distribution throughout the bulk (B-NCA). The S-NCA cathode greatly outperform with an impressive capacity retention of 84% after 1000 cycles in pouch full cells with graphite anode compared to 62% retention for B-NCA. Advanced surface characterization methodologies, including time-of-flight secondary-ion mass spectrometry, reveal that the Al-enriched surface morphology facilitates the formation of a robust, thin electrode-electrolyte interphase (EEI), effectively suppressing the oxidative decomposition of the electrolyte, gas generation, and metallic dead lithium formation on graphite anode. The results illustrate that surface reactivity with the electrolyte is the primary factor limiting the cycle of cells with high-Ni cathodes. The work provides valuable insights toward the practical viability of ultrahigh-Ni cathodes in lithium-ion batteries. (© 2023 Wiley‐VCH GmbH)

[en] Objective: To investigate the value of the diagnosis of MRI during neck flexion in juvenile muscular atrophy of the distal upper extremity. Methods: Five young male patients (mean age 21 years old) with clinical and electrophysiological alterations were performed MR examination with routine neck position and a fully flexed neck position. Eight age-match young men were examined as control subjects. SE T₁WI, T₂WI, Fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) sequences were scanned. Results: A distinctive finding in the disorder was forward displacement of the cervical dural sac, compressive flattening of the lower cervical cord during neck flexion and flow void in the posterior epidural space. The forward displacement was significantly greater in patients than in age-matched control subjects. Conclusion: Flexed neck position MRI is helpful to find radiological abnormalities of the lower cervical dural sac and spinal cord, which were combined with clinical disorder to diagnose juvenile muscular atrophy of the distal upper extremity. (authors)

[en] The plastic deformation behaviors are difficult to predict using the traditional theories because of the size effects induced by the interaction of intrinsic and extrinsic characteristics when the specimen sizes are scaled down to the micro/meso scale. In this study, uniaxial tensile tests of Cu/Ni clad foils under different heat treatments were carried out to investigate the coupling effects of microstructures and interface on the plastic deformation behaviors in the micro/meso scale. The traditional mixture rules, whether consider the interface layer or not, fail to analyze the strengths of Cu/Ni clad foils. The phenomenon was predicted via a proposed constitutive model which considers the interactive effect between the matrix microstructures and interface thickness of Cu/Ni clad foils, and the free surface effect in the micro/meso scale. A good agreement was seen between the calculated and experimental results. The experimental results also indicated that the ductility changed insignificantly with the annealing temperature and was enhanced compared to that of single-layer metal sheets. It was indicated by the experimental results of interrupt tests that the micro cracks originated from the interface and that the nickel layer and copper layer fractured successively due to their differences in mechanical properties and original micro voids at the interface between the Ni and Cu layers. The fracture mechanism was revealed by a proposed fracture model.

[en] Objective: To study the superiority of polyurethane foam sealing agent immobilization with KV-CBCT for the patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). Methods: 36 NPC patients were divided into two groups. Group A was immobilized using standard plastics pillow with the head-and-neck thermoplastic masks, and so do individualized polyurethane foam sealing agent pillow as group B. CBCT was weekly carried out weekly, and the setup errors of the head and neck position (axial (x, y, z)) were analyzed by paired t-test. The marginal was calculated using 2.52Σ + 0.7σ. Results: On x-, y-, z-axial, the average setup errors values of head and neck position were (-0.27 ± 1.33) mm, (-0.31 ± 1.50) mm, (0.54 ± 0.90) mm and (-0.59 ± 2.76) mm, (-0.11 ± 2.23) mm, (0.66 ± 1.60) mm; and the marginal were 3.28 mm, 3.64 mm, 1.86 mm and 6.17 mm, 5.17 mm, 3.52 mm, respectively in Group A; with (-0.44 ± 0.87) mm, (-0.18 ± 1.06) mm, (0.13 ± 0.72) mm and (-0.07 ± 1.58) mm, (-0.04 ± 2.11) mm, (0.03 ± 1.31) mm, and 2.07 mm, 2.46 mm, 1.71 mm and 3.57 mm, 5.03 mm, 3.16 mm, respectively in Group B. Compared with Group A to Group B, P value were 0.315, 0.011, 0.000 and 0.045, 0.630, 0.002 On x-, y-, z-axial. Conclusions: The application of polyurethane foam sealing agent in the immobilization of NPC patients is better than standard plasthetics pillow, and especially for the positioning of neck. Compared to head position, the setup errors of neck are larger, so it is suggested to make the outer margin separately. (authors)

[en] The phase transition and melting curves of CaF₂ are investigated by using the general utility lattice programme (GULP) via the shell model with molecular dynamics method. By calculating the entropy H (at 0K) and Gibbs free energy G* (at 300K), we find that the phase transition pressure from the face-centred cubic (fcc) structure to the orthorhombic structure is 11.40 GPa and 9.33 GPa at 0K and 300K, respectively. The modified melting point of the fcc CaF₂ is in the range of 1650–1733 K at 0GPa. All these results are well consistent with the available experimental data and other theoretical results. We also obtain that the melting temperature of high pressure phase is 990–1073K at 10 GPa. Moreover, the temperature dependences of the elastic constants C_ij, bulk module B and shear module G are also predicted

[en] Objective: To investigate a simple and easy method to maintain a stable urine volume and consistent bladder filling during immobilization, CT scanning, plan designing, and radiotherapy using an ultrasonic bladder capacity scanner (BS). Methods: A total of 66 patients with pelvic tumor who were admitted to our hospital and received radiotherapy from 2013 to 2014 were enrolled and required to drink 500 ml water after emptying the bladder. BS was used to measure bladder capacity at four time points. Before radiotherapy, 62 patients with pelvic tumor were randomly divided into two groups in a single-blind trial. Both groups were asked to empty the bladder, drink 500 ml water, and wait for a subjective feeling of urgency of urination. The 42 patients in group 1 were asked to hold urine, and bladder capacity was measured and urine volume was recorded when patients complained of 'urgency of urination'. The patients in group 2 were told that urine volume should reach the standard in plan designing, and BS was used to determine whether the standard was reached. Results: The time from bladder emptying to the subjective feeling of urgency of urination ranged from 0.5 to 1.5 hours; when the patients had a subjective feeling of urgency of urination, the urine volume ranged from 30 to 500 ml. In group 1, when the patients had a subjective feeling of urgency of urination, the difference between the bladder capacity measured and that in plan designing was 30.6%, while in group 2, the difference was 12.6%. Conclusions: The use of BS in monitoring bladder capacity helps patients to develop a stable feeling of urgency of urination and reach the bladder capacity in plan designing and thus maintain a consistent degree of bladder filling. (authors)

[en] Gold nanorods, as an emerging noble metal nanomaterial with unique properties, have become the new exciting focus of theoretical and experimental studies in the past few years. The structure and function of gold nanorods, especially their biocompatibility, optical property, and photothermal effects, have been attracting more and more attention. Gold nanorods exhibit great potential in applications such as tumor molecular imaging and photothermal therapy. In this article, we review some of the main advances made over the past few years in the application of gold nanorods in surface functionalization, molecular imaging, and photothermal therapy. We also explore other prospective applications and discuss the corresponding concepts, issues, approaches, and challenges, with the aim of stimulating broader interest in gold nanorod-based nanotechnology and improving its practical application

[en] In this paper, a novel carbon monoxide (CO) gas sensor based on α-Fe${}_2$O${}_3$/MgO is presented and constructed. The endlessly single-mode photonic-crystal fibers (ESPCF) was sandwiched between the four-core fibers (FCF) to form the ESPCF-FCF-ESPCF structure, which was embedded it in the Sagnac loop to construct the Sagnac interferometer. The crystal structure, composition and morphology of α-Fe${}_2$O${}_3$/MgO sensing film were characterized by the X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and scanning electron microscope (SEM), respectively. The results indicated that the α-Fe${}_2$O${}_3$/MgO sensing film was uniformly coated on the outside surface of two ESPCFs, with a thickness of about 1 μm. When these sensing films adsorbed CO, the monitoring wavelength showed blueshift and the maximum sensitivity was 99.42 pm/ppm. The response time and recovery time were respectively 90 s and 100 s respectively. The Sagnac fiber-optic sensor exhibt high sensitivity, good selectivity and strong stability, and it can effectively realize the monitoring of carbon monoxide.

[en] We synthesized bicolor Mn-doped CuInS₂ (CIS)/ZnS core/shell nanocrystals (NCs), in which Mn²⁺ ions and the CIS core were separated with a ZnS layer, and both Mn²⁺ ions and CIS cores could emit simultaneously. Transmission electron microscopy and powder X-ray diffraction measurements indicated the epitaxial growth of ZnS shell on the CuInS₂ core, and electron paramagnetic resonance spectrum indicated that Mn²⁺ ions were on the lattice points of ZnS shell. By integrating these bicolor NCs with commercial InGaN-based blue-emitting diodes, tricolor white light-emitting diodes with color rendering index of 83 were obtained

[en] The pressure dependence of elastic properties of ZnS in zinc-blende (ZB) and wurtzite (WZ) structures are investigated by the generalized gradient approximation (GGA) within the plane-wave pseudopotential density functional theory (DFT). Our results are in good agreement with the available experimental data and other theoretical results. From the high-pressure elastic constants obtained, we find that the ZB and WZ structures of ZnS are unstable when the applied pressures are larger than 15.8 GPa and 21.3 GPa, respectively. The sound velocities along different directions for the two structures are also obtained. It is shown that as pressure increases, the sound velocities of the shear wave decrease, and those of all the longitudinal waves increase. An analysis has been made to reveal the anisotropy and highly noncentral forces in ZnS