[en] The toxicity of three radiosensitizers BSO, CM and RSU-1069 on retinoblastoma cells was determined and the efficiency of in vitro MTT assay on drug-screening for retinoblastoma was also evaluated. The results showed that the MTT assay is very useful. The toxicity of radiosensitizers on retinoblastoma cells is dependent on cell line characteristics, drug concentration and time of exposure to it

[en] Highlights: • Molten salt preparation of 2D g-C₃N₄ and 2D/2D g-C₃N₄-MoS₂ is reported. • Molten salts are ideal reaction media for formation of homogeneous 2D/2D hybrid. • Strong interaction between C₃N₄ and MoS₂ exists in the g-C₃N₄-MoS₂ hybrid. • Enhanced visible light photocatalytic H₂ evolution activity appears in the hybrid. • Rationalizations of structural and compositional natures on properties are performed. Construction of two-dimensional/two-dimensional (2D/2D) hybrid with well-defined composition and microstructure is a general protocol to achieve high-performance catalysts. We herein report preparation of g-C₃N₄-MoS₂ hybrid by pyrolysis of affordable melamine and (NH₄)₂MoS₄ in molten LiCl-NaCl-KCl at 550 °C. Molten salts are confirmed as ideal reaction media for formation of homogeneous hybrid. Characterizations suggest a strong interaction between g-C₃N₄ and MoS₂ in the hybrid, which results in an enhanced visible-light-driven photocatalytic hydrogen generation of the hybrid with an optimal g-C₃N₄/MoS₂ ratio. The present study highlights the merits of molten salt methods on preparation of 2D photocatalysts and provides a rational design of 2D/2D hybrid catalysts for advanced environmental and energy applications.

[en] Highlights: • This study identifies the key influence factors of the consumers’ WTB and WTP. • The respondents own the relative less understandings on the EM in Macau. • When purchasing the EM, the respondents often pay more attention on EM's actual cost. • Respondents' EM knowledge, education and income level have the positive influence on WTB and WTP. • The mean WTP value is about 1315.54 MOP, far lower than market price gap in Macau. -- Abstract: As an important part of alternative fuel vehicles, electric vehicles are attracting more and more attentions worldwide. This study is designed to identify the key influencing factors of consumers’ willingness to buy (WTB) and willingness to pay (WTP) for electric motorcycle (EM) based on questionnaire survey. The results show that the respondents have relatively less understanding of the EM. When purchasing the EM, the respondents often pay more attentions to the EM's actual cost (sale price, charging fee, repair fee, and tax incentives, etc.), while the driving speed and load capacity of EM attract very little attention. The respondents' knowledge of EM as well as their education level and income level will promote the WTB and WTP behaviors significantly. While, their consideration on charging fee and family members present a negative influence on WTB and WTP. Using the contingent valuation method (CVM), it is estimated that the mean WTP value for EM is 1315.54 Macau Pataca (MOP), far lower than the current market price gap of 8000 MOP between EM and ordinary fuel motorcycle. The obtained results will help policy makers to understand consumer's purchase behavior of EM, and can provide some effective supports for EM development in Macau.

[en] Identifying the histological phenotype of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is of crucial importance to its treatment and prognosis. Radiomics analysis is an emerging quantitative analysis method, which can automatically extract the mass, objective and indiscernible tumor features from medical images (such as CT, MRI and PET). The radiomics-based prediction model has the potential to non-invasively extract the tumor phenotype characteristics. However, the existing research ignores the stability of extracted features, which restricts the performance and robustness of the constructed model. White most of the methods in the literature use classification accuracy to solve the problem of radiomics features stability, in this paper we propose the use of SOM (Self-organizing Mapping) and K-means to evaluate the stability of different feature subsets. The subset with good clustering performance is selected as the optimal feature subset.When the optimal feature subset is used for modeling, compared with other feature subsets, the higher AUC(Area Under Curve) and lower SD (Standard Deviation) on the three classifiers show that the feature subset had excellent classification performance and good stability, and can distinguish NSCLC subtypes more accurately and robustly. (authors)

[en] Highlights: • It gave predictive cutoff values of PM2.5 and NO₂ for AECOPD. • The cumulative effects were analysed by seasonal. Epidemiologic studies have shown the effect of air pollutants on acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AECOPD). However, little is known regarding the dose-response relationship. This study aimed to investigate the cumulative effect of air pollutants on AECOPD.

[en] We reported the effects of Mn doping on the structure and dielectric properties of (Ba_0.835Ca_0.165)(Zr_0.09Ti_0.91)O₃ (BCZT) thin films prepared by sol–gel method. The (Ba_0.835Ca_0.165)Mn_x(Zr_0.09Ti_0.91)_1−xO₃ (x = 0, 0.002, 0.005, and 0.01) thin films exhibited a pure pseudo-cubic perovskite structure with random orientation. Scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy observation showed that increasing Mn-doping amount caused a decrease in particle size and a cluster of the particles, while the film surface remained smooth and crack-free. Compared with the undoped film, Mn doped BCZT thin films exhibited smaller dielectric constant and lower dielectric loss. The figure of merit reached the maximum value of 16.7 with a tunability of 53.6% for the film with 0.5 mol % Mn doping, when a bias electric field of 400 kV/cm was applied at 100 kHz. The results indicated that the Mn doped BCZT thin films are suitable for tunable microwave device applications. - Highlights: ► Mn doped (Ba,Ca)(Zr,Ti)O₃ (BCZT) films were prepared by sol–gel method. ► Mn doping effects on structure and dielectric properties of BCZT films. ► The Mn doped BCZT films show high dielectric tunability. ► The films have moderate dielectric constant and low dielectric loss. ► The films are suitable for tunable microwave device applications.