Browse Articles

Acceptance of semi-automated likelihood ratio systems for pattern evidence among chinese forensic and legal professionals

Abstract Traditional methods of pattern evidence evaluation in forensic science have long relied on subjective expert judgment, raising concerns about transparency, validity, and reliability. In response, the international forensic community has increasingly advocated the use of the likelihood ratio (LR) framework to provide a more scientific approach to evidence evaluation. Semi-automated LR systems have emerged as essential tools to operationalize this framework in practice. However, the successful adoption of these systems ultimately depends on practitioners’ willingness to integrate them into their work. This study applied the Technology Acceptance Model to investigate the factors influencing Chinese forensic practitioners’ acceptance of semi-automated LR systems. Data from 236 valid responses were analyzed using structural equation modeling. This study takes perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use as the core variables. The results reveal that practitioners attach more importance to a system’s practical value than to its operability. They prioritize system accuracy and transparency over ease of use. Perceived usefulness exerts an indirect effect on behavioral intention via users’ attitude toward the system, rather than a direct one. In addition, profession exerted a significant moderating effect on three paths in the model.

Stromal Cells Recruitment by Sono‐Piezoelectric/Pyroelectric Peptide Hydrogels Promotes Bone Regeneration After Postsurgical Osteosarcoma Recession: A Real‐World‐Matched Study

ABSTRACT Currently, the elimination of postsurgical osteosarcoma (OS) and defect repair are still separately explored, which is unlike real‐world clinical scenarios. Inadequate bone marrow stromal cells (BMSCs) compromise their repair and antitumor efficiencies. Here, PFSSTKT (PFS)‐functionalized KLD‐12 peptide hydrogels (KLD‐PFS) have been engineered and integrated with 2D BiOIO 3 nanosheets to obtain the injectable sono‐piezoelectric/pyroelectric peptide hydrogels (KLD‐PFS@BiOIO 3 ) featuring a supramolecular peptide nanofiber (SMPNF) structure. Differing from the dominant BaTiO 3 in sono‐piezoelectric dynamic therapy (SPDT) of cancer, BiOIO 3 nanosheets can produce ROS through sono‐piezoelectric and pyroelectric catalytic processes under ultrasound irradiation, thus enabling the combination of SPDT with pyroelectric dynamic therapy against residual OS. More significantly, PFS as a bone marrow homing peptide enables KLD‐PFS to capture and recruit more BMSCs, and the inherent SMPNF structure, direct ultrasound‐induced current stimuli, sono‐piezoelectricity/pyroelectricity‐induced current stimuli and ROS birth expedite BMSCs differentiation and bone regeneration. These multifaceted actions follow the signaling pathways associated with calcium flux and cancer–neuron communication disruptions and metabolic dysfunction rectification. They have been successfully validated to repress residual OS and favor bone regeneration in a clinical scenarios‐matched postsurgical osteosarcoma and bone defect model. This study offers a promising strategy for comprehensive osteosarcoma management.

Strength enhancement and microstructural evolutions of dredged slurry stabilized with waste-modified composite binder

Anisotropic Masked Mycobacterium Potentiates Amplified Antitumor Trained Immunity via Spleen Targeting and Myelopoiesis Conversion

ABSTRACT Cancer progression involves systemic immune suppression and tumor recurrence facilitated by increased splenic protumoral myelopoiesis. To address this clinical challenge, we developed an engineered Trojan Mycobacterium as a trained immunity (TI)‐mediated splenic myelopoiesis converter (t‐SMC). This design provides an intravenously injectable anisotropic TI inducer with an aspect ratio of 3.6 for preferential spleen targeting and cellular uptake via a Mycobacterium “peeling‐off and masking‐up” strategy with human serum albumin incorporating an enzyme‑activatable Toll‑like receptor 7/8 agonist that boosts TI activation. t‐SMC induces antitumoral myelopoiesis with metabolic and epigenetic reprogramming in splenic macrophages. This shift toward antitumoral myelopoiesis markedly enriches the tumor microenvironment with inflammatory myeloid effectors in an E.G7‐OVA model, and the adoptive transfer of splenic myeloid cells confirmed the TI‐driven antitumor effect. Furthermore, comparative analysis revealed that the bacterial scaffold (alb‐Mycobac) initiates myeloid reprogramming, but only the integrated TLR7/8 agonist (t‐SMC) crosses the therapeutic threshold for tumor regression. In the MC38 surgical recurrence model, preoperative t‐SMC combined with standard adjuvant αPD‐L1 plus oxaliplatin achieved complete inhibition of recurrence in 50% of treated mice (3 of 6) with 62.5% long‐term survival, establishing TI priming as a translation‐ready preoperative adjuvant that converts immune‐checkpoint non‐responders into responders.

Protein hydrolysate from olive oil waste as an effective biostimulant to enhance strawberry resilience against water stress

Direct Growth of 2D Bilayers on Au(111) for Low‐Coercive Sliding Ferroelectricity

ABSTRACT Two‐dimensional (2D) semiconductors directly grown on metal substrates can enable pristine and low‐defect interfaces that are difficult to achieve through transfer‐based fabrication. Although monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) have been widely synthesized on metals, controllable bilayer growth remains challenging owing to distinct thermodynamics and kinetics of second‐layer growth on inert first‐layer surfaces—a significant hurdle given their importance for interlayer‐coupled functionalities like sliding ferroelectricity. Low‐symmetry rhenium dichalcogenides (ReX 2 , X = S, Se) are especially attractive because their weak interlayer coupling and multiple thermodynamically stable stacking configurations support low sliding barriers. Here, by optimizing precursor flux and growth kinetics, we achieved controlled chemical vapor deposition (CVD) growth of bilayer ReS 2 with well‐defined parallel and antiparallel stacking directly on Au(111). As‐grown parallel‐stacked bilayers exhibit a large piezoelectric response (effective d 33, eff = 9.84 pm V −1 ) and sliding ferroelectricity with an ultralow coercive voltage of approximately 2 V. Tip‐defined ferroelectric tunnel junction and ferroelectric field‐effect transistor measurements further support the ferroelectric interpretation. Comparative studies of as‐grown, transferred, and exfoliated bilayers reveal that the cleaner, more conformal interface of the as‐grown bilayers is associated with a lower coercive bias. This work establishes a scalable route for stacking‐specific bilayer TMD growth on metal toward low‐coercive sliding ferroelectricity.

Assessment of phase uncertainty in nonlinear nearshore wave records

Abstract Given a time-series record of ocean surface elevation, spectral analysis is often used to determine characteristic statistics of the record, such as wave height and mean period. A simple linear analysis shows that the phases of the Fourier components in a time-series have some effect on the value of the resulting characteristic statistics; two records with identical wave components, but different phases, will yield two different sets of bulk statistics ( $$H_{m0}$$ , $$T_p$$ , etc.). In the linear sense, this variance from different phase realizations is due to “spectral leakage”, or the existence of Fourier components with non-integer number of periods in the record. It is also expected that variance due to nonlinearity should exist in nearshore wave records, as different phase realizations may lead to different low-frequency motions, which may be poorly resolved in a typical time-series record. This phase-driven variance is a type of aleatory uncertainty, and must be quantified statistically. Here, in the context of a high energy wave event in Duck, North Carolina, USA, the behavior of phase uncertainty is examined through numerical simulation. The analysis indicates that nonlinearity does play a role in uncertainty. The primary outcome of this study are empirical relations for the expected value of phase-driven variance, which can be used to understand the baseline precision of spectral statistics derived from time-series records.

Does Stimulus-Preceding Negativity Reflect Predictions in a Somatosensory Roving Paradigm?

The mismatch negativity (MMN) has since decades become one of the most prominent phenomena in cognitive neuroscience, recognized as a brain response indexing automatic change detection. While substantial work has characterized poststimulus mismatch responses (MMRs), comparatively little is known about how prior information is represented before stimulus onset. Thirty-four healthy human volunteers (12 females) underwent a somatosensory roving paradigm with electroencephalography to investigate whether anticipatory brain activity reflects stimulus history accumulation. Poststimulus analyses revealed canonical somatosensory MMRs, corresponding to a modulation of the N140 component (MMN), source localized in the secondary somatosensory cortex, and a P300 MMR. Both were parametrically modulated by train length, with opposing direction for standard and deviant trials, decreasing over the course of the experiment. Prestimulus analyses revealed a stimulus-preceding negativity (SPN) that systematically varied as a function of stimulus history; longer trains of stimulus repetitions were associated with reduced anticipatory negativity. The SPN did not vary throughout the experiment, but its relationship with poststimulus responses evolved, showing an initially negative correlation with the N140 that diminished over time and an opposite pattern for the P300. Source reconstruction localized the SPN to a network involving inferior frontal, frontopolar, and somatosensory cortices, suggesting a possible role in top–down gain modulation of upcoming sensory stimuli. These findings indicate that learning of statistical regularities is not only observable in the poststimulus phase following violation of statistical regularities (i.e., prediction error signals), but also in neural activity preceding sensory inputs, thereby providing new avenues for investigating endogenous predictive processes.

An On‐Skin Visually Monitorable Gel‐Matrix Zinc–Ion Battery for Electrically Stimulated Wound Healing

ABSTRACT Aqueous zinc‐ion batteries (ZIBs) feature intrinsic safety, low cost, and environmental compatibility, making them attractive for untapped cutting‐edge applications, such as the biomedicine area. Particularly, wearable medical power sources require stable electrical output, mechanical flexibility, and high biocompatibility. Herein, a stable and flexible gel‐matrix aqueous ZIB was designed as an on‐skin power source for electrically stimulated wound healing. The elaborately designed graded porous framework hydrogel electrolyte (GPF‐HGE) obtains high ionic conductivity (17.19 mS cm −1 ) and improved mechanical deformation tolerance (46 kPa and 205 J m −2 ) due to the porous framework formed in the solvent exchange process. Its transparency property, combined with an annular ring‐shaped electrode that generates an electric field aligned with the endogenous wound electric field, enables direct application to wound sites and real‐time visual monitoring. The assembled Zn|GPF‐HGE|I 2 @AC full cells show superior long‐term cycling stability accompanied by slight capacity fading, ensuring a steady energy supply for electrical stimulation (ES). Benefiting from its robust electrochemical stability and excellent biocompatibility, the obtained ES device can provide reliable electrical signals and promote wound healing through synergistic antibacterial and anti‐inflammatory effects. This work highlights the potential of aqueous ZIBs as advanced biomedical power sources beyond conventional energy storage applications.

Military terrain-conditioned decoy-aware mask refinement network for open-vocabulary camouflaged object segmentation

Submillimeter‑Scale Untethered Magnetic Actuators Enabling on‑Demand Manipulation and In Situ Viscosity Sensing

ABSTRACT Untethered magnetic actuators offer a promising platform for minimally invasive surgery due to their compact size, mechanical compliance, multifunctionality, and remote controllability. However, the structural simplicity imposed by current construction strategies limits their operational versatility to leverage established surgical paradigms, and systematic studies of locomotion across the variable viscosities of bodily fluids remain scarce. Herein, we introduce an interference‐fit assembly strategy that couples stereolithographic 3D‐printed microstructures with customized magnetic pixels to fabricate submillimeter‐scale untethered magnetic actuators. Theoretical and experimental analyses in model‐fluid environments spanning physiologically relevant viscosity ranges demonstrate that, once above the critical magnetic flux density required for stable motion, the locomotion velocity scales linearly with the driving frequency. The velocity‐frequency slope exhibits a hyperbolic dependence on ambient viscosity, enabling semi‐quantitative viscosity sensing concurrently with motion and functional execution. Furthermore, we showcase multifunctional on‐demand manipulation capabilities: enhanced diffusion and directional transport with qualitative viscosity sensing; in situ quantitative viscosity measurement inspired by a rotational viscometer; mechanical fragmentation via continuous rotation; and a rigid‐soft synergistic magnetic gripper for targeted cargo capture and delivery. Collectively, this strategy establishes a versatile and scalable paradigm for designing multifunctional, untethered, submillimeter‑scale magnetic actuators with prospective potential for biomedical applications.

8-aminoguanine as a therapeutic strategy to reverse hallmarks of urothelial cell aging

Emergence of Behavioral Tinnitus in Gerbils Is Associated with Reduced Spontaneous Rates in Single Auditory Nerve Fibers

Tinnitus is often initiated by damage to the peripheral auditory system, for example, by acoustic overexposure. Animal studies have shown that such noise-induced tinnitus is related to increased spontaneous activity in the dorsal cochlear nucleus as well as further along the central auditory pathway. However, the role of spontaneous activity of the auditory nerve, connecting the peripheral and central auditory systems, in tinnitus emergence remains unknown. In the current study, tinnitus was induced by exposing anesthetized Mongolian gerbils of either sex to a 115 dB SPL narrowband noise. After one day of recovery, animals were behaviorally tested for gap detection deficits using a gap-prepulse inhibition of the acoustic startle reflex (GPIAS) paradigm, indicative of tinnitus. Noise-induced threshold shifts did not differ between animals with and without signs of tinnitus. Interestingly, single auditory nerve fibers recorded from animals with signs of tinnitus had significantly reduced spontaneous rates compared with both noise-exposed animals without signs of tinnitus and sham-exposed animals. Furthermore, spontaneous rate reduction was specific to fibers tuned to frequencies within the frequency bands that showed gap detection deficits. On the other hand, interspike interval variability and bursting behavior increased in fibers from noise-exposed compared with sham-exposed animals but did not differ with gap detection deficits. These findings suggest that tinnitus-related central hyperactivity may be initiated by reduced spontaneous rates of its innervating auditory nerve fibers. This is consistent with current theoretical models explaining the central manifestation of tinnitus and offers a more detailed definition of tinnitus-related deafferentation.

Suppressing Nonradiative Losses via Computation‐Guided Molecular Design of Self‐Assembled Interfacial Layers for High‐Performance Organic Solar Cells

ABSTRACT The rational design of efficient self‐assembled interlayers (SAIs) is pivotal for overcoming the efficiency bottleneck in organic solar cells (OSCs), in which substantial nonradiative energy losses limit further performance improvements. In this study, guided by theoretical calculations, we report a series of new SAI materials ( BT‐nBZCz ; n = 2, 3, and 4) based on a benzocarbazole core functionalized with a benzo[b]thiophene (BT) unit, and systematically investigate their impact on nonradiative losses and OSC performance. Notably, binary OSCs incorporating BT‐4BZCz achieve a significantly higher power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 20.46% compared to 18.08% for BT‐free SAIs. Combined theoretical and experimental analyses reveal that BT functionalization improves energy level alignment, enhances dipole moment, and optimizes molecular packing, crystallization kinetics, and fibrillar network formation relative to BT‐free SAIs. These improvements promote more efficient exciton dissociation, reduce charge recombination, and in particular, suppress nonradiative energy losses (0.284 vs. 0.217 eV) in the corresponding OSCs. Furthermore, BT‐4BZCz exhibits excellent universality, maintaining high performance across various binary photoactive blends. This work presents a viable molecular engineering strategy for SAIs to suppress nonradiative losses and advance the development of high‐performance OSCs.

Valorisation of waste rice husk into mesoporous silica for cost-effective, sustainable and efficient removal of cefuroxime from wastewater

Metal–Organic Framework‐Preserved Thermostable Microneedle Patch for Minimally Invasive Detection and Monitoring of Kidney Dysfunction

ABSTRACT Early and decentralized biomarker detection and monitoring is essential for timely diagnosis and intervention, particularly in kidney disorders that often progress asymptomatically until irreversible damage has occurred. Here, we present a thermally resilient metal‐organic framework encapsulated microneedle (MOF@MN) sensing platform that integrates minimally invasive dermal interstitial fluid (ISF) sampling and on‐needle detection with MOF‐based biostabilization of the sensing interface. A thin zeolitic imidazolate framework‐8 (ZIF‐8) shell is grown in situ on antibody‐functionalized microneedles, preserving the bioactivity of immobilized antibodies after 4 weeks of thermal cycling up to 50°C and maintaining full analytical performance after prolonged unrefrigerated shipment. This interfacial encapsulation strategy enables quantitative detection of neutrophil gelatinase‐associated lipocalin (NGAL), an early biomarker of kidney injury, directly from dermal ISF over a broad clinically relevant range. In a mouse model and human subjects, MOF@MN‐derived NGAL measurements closely mirror blood NGAL concentrations, precede changes in conventional renal function markers, and correlate well with histopathological injury severity, highlighting their potential for subclinical monitoring. Collectively, this study establishes conformal MOF encapsulation as a simple and highly effective strategy for engineering environmentally resilient sensing interfaces and provides a scalable route to cold‐chain‐independent, minimally invasive biosensing for decentralized and at‐home health monitoring.

A longitudinal daily diary study of stress, self-esteem fluctuation, and mood variability in adolescents

Abstract Adolescence represents a developmental phase marked by profound and rapidly shifting emotional states. While some adolescents exhibit pronounced, day-to-day mood variability, others remain comparatively stable. Although emotional fluctuation has long been considered a core feature with implications for health and well-being, the determinants underlying these substantial individual differences remain insufficiently understood. To address this, we conducted a longitudinal study using daily app-based assessments, aiming to explore whether perceived stress and self-esteem dynamics help explain why some adolescents show greater mood variability than others. We asked N = 70 adolescents to rate their self-esteem, positive, and negative mood once per day for 15 days. For data analyses, we used path analytic mediation modeling. Fluctuation of self-esteem (FSE) significantly predicted both fluctuation of positive mood (FPM; b  = 0.282, 95% CI [0.101, 0.464], p  = .0.002) and fluctuation of negative mood (FNM; b  = 0.395, 95% CI [0.147, 0.644], p  = 0.002) indicating that greater variability in self-esteem is associated with greater mood fluctuation. Moreover, perceived stress (PS) significantly predicted FSE ( b  = 0.057, 95% CI [0.012, 0.102], p  = 0.013), suggesting that higher perceived stress was associated with greater self-esteem fluctuation. Significant indirect effect emerged for PS on FPM ( b  = 0.016, 95% CI [0.003, 0.030], p  = 0.019) and on FNM ( b  = 0.023, 95% CI [0.002, 0.043], p  = 0 .028) via FSE, confirming a mediating role of self-esteem fluctuations. This study showed that perceived stress was associated with fluctuations in self-esteem, which were related to mood variability among adolescents. These findings suggest that stress reduction could be explored as a potential avenue for future interventions.

Noise‐Tunable Memristor Enabling Programmable Probabilistic Neurons for Frequency‐Selective Time‐Series Signal Encoding

ABSTRACT Memristors exhibit tunable resistance, which has been widely exploited in non‐volatile memory, in‐memory computing, and neuromorphic computing. They can also serve as an entropy source due to their inherent instability, making them attractive for security devices and probabilistic computing. When these two characteristics are coupled, memristors can act as tunable entropy sources; however, this direction remains largely unexplored. Here, we propose a spiking‐rate‐programmable probabilistic neuron that leverages the tunable noise characteristics of a Ru/TaO x /Pt memristor. In this memristor, the conduction mechanism varies across resistance states, leading to distinct noise behaviors and signal‐to‐noise ratios that depend on the programmed resistance. This noise can be harnessed to realize frequency‐selective, frequency‐domain probabilistic neural encoding. By integrating these probabilistic neurons, an identical network architecture can process input signals spanning a wide frequency range, achieving around 95% classification performance on both low‐frequency human activity data (UCI HAR, 0.4–25 Hz) and high‐frequency speech data (Audio MNIST, 20 Hz–8 kHz). These results highlight a new direction that leverages the intrinsic properties of memristors for compact, adaptive, and energy‐efficient time‐series encoding.

Study on ice phase change prediction model for transmission lines based on multiphysics coupling

Hierarchical SiO ₂ @Cellulose Nanofiber Aerogels With Synergistic Optical–Thermal Regulation for High‐Performance Passive Cooling

ABSTRACT Passive radiative cooling offers a sustainable pathway for thermal management by minimizing solar absorption while maximizing mid‐infrared (MIR) emission through the atmospheric transparency window. However, parasitic heat gain substantially compromises its net cooling efficiency. Here, we report a reversible xanthation‐mediated strategy to fabricate hierarchical SiO 2 @cellulose nanofiber aerogels that synergistically integrate broadband solar reflectivity, high MIR emissivity, and low thermal conductivity. The xanthation chemistry enables uniform, in situ anchoring of ∼300 nm SiO 2 nanospheres along nanofibers, creating a distinctive ‘pearl‐necklace’ morphology, while directional ice‐templating further constructs lamellar hierarchical porous networks that suppress nonradiative heat transfer. The optimized aerogel exhibits an average solar reflectance of 95.6%, a MIR emissivity of 95.3% within the 8–13 µm atmospheric window, and an ultralow thermal conductivity of 0.028 W m −1  K −1 . Under 1000 W m −2 solar irradiance, it achieves a time‐averaged subambient cooling of 3.7°C and a net temperature reduction of 24.9°C compared to polystyrene foam, while extending refrigeration thermal cycling by 47.3%. This work provides a scalable material design framework for monolithic integration of optical selectivity and thermal insulation, offering a promising sustainable solution for energy‐efficient buildings, cold‐chain logistics, and next‐generation thermal management systems.