bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Things and Places
Authors: Pylyshyn Zenon W.
Published: December 2018

Problems in linking representation and perceived things in the world are discussed in light of the role played by a preconceptual indexing mechanism that functions to identify, reidentify, and track objects.

InThings and Places, Zenon Pylyshyn argues that the process of incrementally constructing perceptual representations, solving the binding problem (determining which properties go together), and, more generally, grounding perceptual representations in experience arise from the nonconceptual capacity to pick out and keep track of a small number of sensory individuals. He proposes a mechanism in early vision that allows us to select a limited number of sensory objects, to reidentify each of them under certain conditions as the same individual seen before, and to keep track of their enduring individuality despite radical changes in their properties—all without the machinery of concepts, identity, and tenses. This mechanism, which he calls FINSTs (for "Fingers of Instantiation"), is responsible for our capacity to individuate and track several independently moving sensory objects—an ability that we exercise every waking minute, and one that can be understood as fundamental to the way we see and understand the world and to our sense of space.

Pylyshyn examines certain empirical phenomena of early vision in light of the FINST mechanism, including tracking and attentional selection. He argues provocatively that the initial selection of perceptual individuals is our primary nonconceptual contact with the perceptual world (a contact that does not depend on prior encoding of any properties of the thing selected) and then draws upon a wide range of empirical data to support a radical externalist theory of spatial representation that grows out of his indexing theory.
Children and Pensions
Authors: Cigno Alessandro , Werding Martin
Published: December 2018

An analysis of the effect of public pension schemes on a country's fertility rate and a proposal for policies to reform pension coverage in light of this.

The rapidly aging populations of many developed countries—most notably Japan and member countries of the European Union—present obvious problems for the public pension plans of these countries. Not only will there be disproportionately fewer workers making pension contributions than there are retirees drawing pension benefits, but the youth-to-age imbalance would significantly affect the total contributive capacity of future generations and hence their total income growth. In Children and Pensions, Alessandro Cigno and Martin Werding examine the way pension policy and child-related benefits affect fertility behavior and productivity growth. They present theoretical arguments to the effect that public pension coverage as such will reduce aggregate fertility and may raise aggregate household savings. They argue further that public pensions, as they are currently designed, discourage parents from private human capital investment in their children to improve the children's future earning capacity. After an overview of pension and child benefit policies (focusing on the European Union, Japan, and the United States), the authors offer an empirical and theoretical analysis and a simulation of the effects of the policies under discussion. Their policy proposals to address declines in fertility and productivity growth include the innovative suggestion that relates a person's pension entitlements to his or her number of children and the children's earning ability—proposing that, in effect, a person's pension could be financed in part or in full by the pensioner's own children.
Origins of Human Communication
Authors: Tomasello Michael
Published: December 2018

A leading expert on evolution and communication presents an empirically based theory of the evolutionary origins of human communication that challenges the dominant Chomskian view.

Human communication is grounded in fundamentally cooperative, even shared, intentions. In this original and provocative account of the evolutionary origins of human communication, Michael Tomasello connects the fundamentally cooperative structure of human communication (initially discovered by Paul Grice) to the especially cooperative structure of human (as opposed to other primate) social interaction. Tomasello argues that human cooperative communication rests on a psychological infrastructure of shared intentionality (joint attention, common ground), evolved originally for collaboration and culture more generally. The basic motives of the infrastructure are helping and sharing: humans communicate to request help, inform others of things helpfully, and share attitudes as a way of bonding within the cultural group. These cooperative motives each created different functional pressures for conventionalizing grammatical constructions. Requesting help in the immediate you-and-me and here-and-now, for example, required very little grammar, but informing and sharing required increasingly complex grammatical devices. Drawing on empirical research into gestural and vocal communication by great apes and human infants (much of it conducted by his own research team), Tomasello argues further that humans' cooperative communication emerged first in the natural gestures of pointing and pantomiming. Conventional communication, first gestural and then vocal, evolved only after humans already possessed these natural gestures and their shared intentionality infrastructure along with skills of cultural learning for creating and passing along jointly understood communicative conventions. Challenging the Chomskian view that linguistic knowledge is innate, Tomasello proposes instead that the most fundamental aspects of uniquely human communication are biological adaptations for cooperative social interaction in general and that the purely linguistic dimensions of human communication are cultural conventions and constructions created by and passed along within particular cultural groups.

Bradford Books imprint
The Tuning of Place
Authors: Coyne Richard
Published: December 2018

How pervasive digital devices—smartphones, iPods, GPS navigation systems, and their networks—us formulate a sense of place and refine social relationships

How do pervasive digital devices—smartphones, iPods, GPS navigation systems, and cameras, among others—influence the way we use spaces? In The Tuning of Place, Richard Coyne argues that these ubiquitous devices and the networks that support them become the means of making incremental adjustments within spaces—of tuning place. Pervasive media help us formulate a sense of place, writes Coyne, through their capacity to introduce small changes, in the same way that tuning a musical instrument invokes the subtle process of recalibration. Places are inhabited spaces, populated by people, their concerns, memories, stories, conversations, encounters, and artifacts. The tuning of place—whereby people use their devices in their interactions with one another—is also a tuning of social relations.

The range of ubiquity is vast—from the familiar phones and hand-held devices through RFID tags, smart badges, dynamic signage, microprocessors in cars and kitchen appliances, wearable computing, and prosthetics, to devices still in development. Rather than catalog achievements and predictions, Coyne offers a theoretical framework for discussing pervasive media that can inform developers, designers, and users as they contemplate interventions into the environment. Processes of tuning can lead to consideration of themes highly relevant to pervasive computing: intervention, calibration, wedges, habits, rhythm, tags, taps, tactics, thresholds, aggregation, noise, and interference.
The Techno-Human Condition
Authors: Allenby Braden R. , Sarewitz Daniel
Published: December 2018

A provocative analysis of what it means to be human in an era of incomprehensible technological complexity and change.

In The Techno-Human Condition, Braden Allenby and Daniel Sarewitz explore what it means to be human in an era of incomprehensible technological complexity and change. They argue that if we are to have any prospect of managing that complexity, we will need to escape the shackles of current assumptions about rationality, progress, and certainty, even as we maintain a commitment to fundamental human values.

Humans have been co-evolving with their technologies since the dawn of prehistory. What is different now is that we have moved beyond external technological interventions to transform ourselves from the inside out—even as we also remake the Earth system itself. Coping with this new reality, say Allenby and Sarewitz, means liberating ourselves from such categories as “human,” “technological,” and “natural” to embrace a new techno-human relationship.

Contributors Boris Barbour, Mario Biagioli, Paul S. Brookes, Finn Brunton, Alex Csiszar, Alessandro Delfanti, Emmanuel Didier, Sarah de Rijcke, Daniele Fanelli, Yves Gingras, James R. Griesemer, Catherine Guaspare, Marie-Andrée Jacob, Barbara M. Kehm, Cyril Labbé, Jennifer Lin, Alexandra Lippman, Burkhard Morganstern, Ivan Oransky, Michael Power, Sergio Sismondo, Brandon Stell, Tereza Stöckelová, Elizabeth Wager, Paul Wouters
Engineering Systems
Authors: de Weck Olivier L. , Roos Daniel , Magee Christopher L. , Cooper Scott
Published: December 2018

An overview of engineering systems that describes the new challenges posed for twenty-first-century engineers by today's highly complex sociotechnical systems.

Engineering, for much of the twentieth century, was mainly about artifacts and inventions. Now, it's increasingly about complex systems. As the airplane taxis to the gate, you access the Internet and check email with your PDA, linking the communication and transportation systems. At home, you recharge your plug-in hybrid vehicle, linking transportation to the electricity grid. Today's large-scale, highly complex sociotechnical systems converge, interact, and depend on each other in ways engineers of old could barely have imagined. As scale, scope, and complexity increase, engineers consider technical and social issues together in a highly integrated way as they design flexible, adaptable, robust systems that can be easily modified and reconfigured to satisfy changing requirements and new technological opportunities.

Engineering Systems offers a comprehensive examination of such systems and the associated emerging field of study. Through scholarly discussion, concrete examples, and history, the authors consider the engineer's changing role, new ways to model and analyze these systems, the impacts on engineering education, and the future challenges of meeting human needs through the technologically enabled systems of today and tomorrow.
Design Structure Matrix Methods and Applications
Authors: Eppinger Steven D. , Browning Tyson R.
Published: December 2018

An introduction to a powerful and flexible network modeling tool for developing and understanding complex systems, with many examples from a range of industries.

Design structure matrix (DSM) is a straightforward and flexible modeling technique that can be used for designing, developing, and managing complex systems. DSM offers network modeling tools that represent the elements of a system and their interactions, thereby highlighting the system's architecture (or designed structure). Its advantages include compact format, visual nature, intuitive representation, powerful analytical capacity, and flexibility. Used primarily so far in the area of engineering management, DSM is increasingly being applied to complex issues in health care management, financial systems, public policy, natural sciences, and social systems. This book offers a clear and concise explanation of DSM methods for practitioners and researchers.
Beyond Choices
Authors: Sicart Miguel
Published: December 2018

How computer games can be designed to create ethically relevant experiences for players.

Today's blockbuster video games—and their never-ending sequels, sagas, and reboots—provide plenty of excitement in high-resolution but for the most part fail to engage a player's moral imagination. In Beyond Choices, Miguel Sicart calls for a new generation of video and computer games that are ethically relevant by design. In the 1970s, mainstream films—including The Godfather, Apocalypse Now, Raging Bull, and Taxi Driver—filled theaters but also treated their audiences as thinking beings. Why can't mainstream video games have the same moral and aesthetic impact? Sicart argues that it is time for games to claim their place in the cultural landscape as vehicles for ethical reflection.

Sicart looks at games in many manifestations: toys, analog games, computer and video games, interactive fictions, commercial entertainments, and independent releases. Drawing on philosophy, design theory, literary studies, aesthetics, and interviews with game developers, Sicart provides a systematic account of how games can be designed to challenge and enrich our moral lives. After discussing such topics as definition of ethical gameplay and the structure of the game as a designed object, Sicart offers a theory of the design of ethical game play. He also analyzes the ethical aspects of game play in a number of current games, including Spec Ops: The Line, Beautiful Escape: Dungeoneer, Fallout New Vegas, and Anna Anthropy's Dys4Ia. Games are designed to evoke specific emotions; games that engage players ethically, Sicart argues, enable us to explore and express our values through play.
Intellectual Property Strategy
Authors: Palfrey John
Published: December 2018

How a flexible and creative approach to intellectual property can help an organization accomplish goals ranging from building market share to expanding an industry.

Most managers leave intellectual property issues to the legal department, unaware that an organization's intellectual property can help accomplish a range of management goals, from accessing new markets to improving existing products to generating new revenue streams. In this book, intellectual property expert and Harvard Law School professor John Palfrey offers a short briefing on intellectual property strategy for corporate managers and nonprofit administrators. Palfrey argues for strategies that go beyond the traditional highly restrictive “sword and shield” approach, suggesting that flexibility and creativity are essential to a profitable long-term intellectual property strategy—especially in an era of changing attitudes about media.

Intellectual property, writes Palfrey, should be considered a key strategic asset class. Almost every organization has an intellectual property portfolio of some value and therefore the need for an intellectual property strategy. A brand, for example, is an important form of intellectual property, as is any information managed and produced by an organization. Palfrey identifies the essential areas of intellectual property—patent, copyright, trademark, and trade secret—and describes strategic approaches to each in a variety of organizational contexts, based on four basic steps.

The most innovative organizations employ multiple intellectual property approaches, depending on the situation, asking hard, context-specific questions. By doing so, they achieve both short- and long-term benefits while positioning themselves for success in the global information economy.
The Practice of Light
Authors: Cubitt Sean
Published: December 2018

An account of Western visual technologies since the Renaissance traces a history of the increasing control of light's intrinsic excess.

Light is the condition of all vision, and the visual media are our most important explorations of this condition. The history of visual technologies reveals a centuries-long project aimed at controlling light. In this book, Sean Cubitt traces a genealogy of the dominant visual media of the twenty-first century—digital video, film, and photography—through a history of materials and practices that begins with the inventions of intaglio printing and oil painting. Attending to the specificities of inks and pigments, cathode ray tubes, color film, lenses, screens, and chips, Cubitt argues that we have moved from a hierarchical visual culture focused on semantic values to a more democratic but value-free numerical commodity.

Cubitt begins with the invisibility of black, then builds from line to surface to volume and space. He describes Rembrandt's attempts to achieve pure black by tricking the viewer and the rise of geometry as a governing principle in visual technology, seen in Dürer, Hogarth, and Disney, among others. He finds the origins of central features of digital imaging in nineteenth-century printmaking; examines the clash between the physics and psychology of color; explores the representation of space in shadows, layers, and projection; discusses modes of temporal order in still photography, cinema, television, and digital video; and considers the implications of a political aesthetics of visual technology.
In Search of the Good
Authors: Callahan Daniel
Published: December 2018

One of the founding fathers of bioethics describes the development of the field and his thinking on some of the crucial issues of our time.

Daniel Callahan helped invent the field of bioethics more than forty years ago when he decided to use his training in philosophy to grapple with ethical problems in biology and medicine. Disenchanted with academic philosophy because of its analytical bent and distance from the concerns of real life, Callahan found the ethical issues raised by the rapid medical advances of the 1960s—which included the birth control pill, heart transplants, and new capacities to keep very sick people alive—to be philosophical questions with immediate real-world relevance. In this memoir, Callahan describes his part in the founding of bioethics and traces his thinking on critical issues including embryonic stem cell research, market-driven health care, and medical rationing. He identifies the major challenges facing bioethics today and ruminates on its future.

Callahan writes about founding the Hastings Center—the first bioethics research institution—with the author and psychiatrist Willard Gaylin in 1969, and recounts the challenges of running a think tank while keeping up a prolific flow of influential books and articles. Editor of the famous liberal Catholic magazine Commonweal in the 1960s, Callahan describes his now-secular approach to issues of illness and mortality. He questions the idea of endless medical “progress” and interventionist end-of-life care that seems to blur the boundary between living and dying. It is the role of bioethics, he argues, to be a loyal dissenter in the onward march of medical progress. The most important challenge for bioethics now is to help rethink the very goals of medicine.
Assembling Policy
Authors: Ureta Sebastián
Published: December 2018

An examination of how human beings are brought into the planning of complex infrastructure projects, through analysis of a controversial public transportation project.

Policymakers are regularly confronted by complaints that ordinary people are left out of the planning and managing of complex infrastructure projects. In this book, Sebastián Ureta argues that humans, both individually and collectively, are always at the heart of infrastructure policy; the issue is how they are brought into it. Ureta develops his argument through the case of Transantiago, a massive public transportation project in the city of Santiago, proposed in 2000, launched in 2007, and in 2012 called “the worst public policy ever implemented in our country” by a Chilean government spokesman.

Ureta examines Transantiago as a policy assemblage formed by an array of heterogeneous elements—including, crucially, “human devices,” or artifacts and practices through which humans were brought into infrastructure planning and implementation. Ureta traces the design and operation of Transantiago through four configurations: crisis, infrastructuration, disruption, and normalization. In the crisis phase, humans were enacted both as consumers and as participants in the transformation of Santiago into a “world-class” city, but during infrastructuration the “active citizen” went missing. The launch of Transantiago caused huge disruptions, in part because users challenged their role as mere consumers and instead enacted unexpected human devices. Resisting calls for radical reform, policymakers insisted on normalizing Transantiago, transforming it into a permanent failing system. Drawing on Chile's experience, Ureta argues that if we understand policy as a series of heterogeneous assemblages, infrastructure policymaking would be more inclusive, reflexive, and responsible.
ПЕРСПЕКТИВЫ ПРОФИЛАКТИЧЕСКОГО И ТЕРАПЕВТИЧЕСКОГО ИСПОЛЬЗОВАНИЯ ТЕХНОЛОГИИ РНК-ИНТЕРФЕРЕНЦИИ, "Успехи современной биологии"
Authors: Маркушин С. Г. , Ртищев А. А.
Published: December 2018

РНК-интерференция - система контроля активности генов эукариотических клеток с помощью малых интерферирующих РНК - была открыта сравнительно недавно и, по мнению многих специалистов, считается величайшим медицинским достижением со времени появления первых антибиотиков. Рассмотрено использование технологии РНК-интерференции в профилактике и терапии инфекций, вызванных вирусами, играющими важную роль в инфекционной патологии человека. Обсуждаются достоинства и недостатки данного методического подхода, а также перспективы внедрения его в клиническую практику.
КОНВЕРГЕНТНОЕ СХОДСТВО ТЕРМОАДАПТАЦИИ МЕДОНОСНОЙ ПЧЕЛЫ И ШМЕЛЕЙ ПАЛЕАРКТИКИ, "Успехи современной биологии"
Authors: Еськов Е.К.
Published: December 2018

Проведен сравнительный анализ индивидуальных и социальных адаптации медоносной пчелы Apis mellifera L. и шмелей Bombus sp. Палеарктики. Показано, что у шмелей и пчел получили развитие сходные этологические механизмы регуляции внутригнездовой температуры. Ее стабилизация, вероятно, повлияла на приобретение расплодом стенотермности. Но освоение пчелами и шмелями зон умеренного и холодного климата сопряжено с приобретением взрослыми особями эвритермности. Семья медоносной пчелы, обладая высокой численностью рабочих особей, имеет преимущество по жизнеспособности перед шмелиной семьей, начинающей свое существование в годичном цикле развития с одной особи. Однако размножение медоносной пчелы семьями ограничивает перспективы расширения диапазона наследственной изменчивости и эволюционной пластичности вида. Поэтому конвергентное сходство температурных адаптаций у медоносной пчелы и шмелей не обеспечивает им полного сходства по средствам борьбы за существование.
If it is easy to remember, then it is not secure: Metacognitive beliefs affect password selection
Authors: Luna Karlos
Published: December 2018

In this research, we applied current theories of metacognition to study computer security and tested the idea that users' password selection is affected by the metacognitive belief that if a password is memorable, then it is not secure. In two experiments, different types of eight‐character passwords and longer, more secure sentences were presented. Participants rated perceived memorability and perceived security of the passwords and indicated whether they would use them in a critical and in a noncritical service. The results confirmed the belief. Sentences that are in fact highly secure and perceived as highly memorable were also perceived as weak passwords. The belief strongly affected password selection for critical services, but it had no effect on noncritical services. In sum, long sentences are a particularly interesting type of password because they meet both security and memorability criteria, but their use is limited by a false belief.
Strain Hardening Behavior in Mg–Al Alloys at Room Temperature
Authors: Zhao Chaoyue , Chen Xianhua , Wang Jingfeng , Tu Teng , Dai Yan , Shin Kwang Seon , Pan Fusheng
Published: December 2018

The effect of Al on the strain hardening behavior of as‐extruded Mg–xAl (x = 1, 2, 3 and 4 wt%) magnesium alloys is investigated using uniaxial tensile tests at 10−3 s−1 at room temperature. The strain hardening rate, the strain hardening exponent, and the hardening capacity are obtained from true stress–true plastic strain curves. In as‐extruded Mg–Al alloys, the Al element is completely dissolved in the α‐Mg matrix. With increasing Al content, the average grain sizes of these samples decrease from 16.9 to 10.7 µm. The strain hardening rate increases from 515 to 924 MPa, then reduces to 818 MPa at (σ–σ0.2) = 90 MPa. The strain hardening exponent n increases from 0.125 to 0.149 and then reduces to 0.142, while the hardening capacity Hc increases from 0.71 to 0.90 and then reduces to 0.80. The train hardening rate, the strain hardening exponent n, and hardening capacity Hc reach peak value in Mg–3Al. The difference in the strain hardening responses of as‐extruded Mg–Al alloys may mainly be influenced by weaker basal texture and smaller average grain size with increasing Al content.
Mechanical Anisotropy Investigated in the Complex SLM‐Processed Sc‐ and Zr‐Modified Al–Mg Alloy Microstructure
Authors: Best James P. , Maeder Xavier , Michler Johann , Spierings Adriaan B.
Published: December 2018

Additive manufactured Sc‐modified aluminum alloys hold great promise for aerospace components under high and/or complex loads. While the thermal patterns formed in the melt pool during selective laser melting (SLM) of the powdered material result in a complex microstructure featuring a bimodal grain size distribution, such alloys show an isotropic mechanical response during mm‐scale testing. To understand the role of microstructure on the mechanical response, nanoindentation is performed on SLM‐processed Scalmalloy® for both the untreated and precipitate‐hardened alloy, studied both parallel and orthogonal to the build direction. The elastic modulus of the coarse and fine grained regions is significantly greater than the macro‐scale modulus of the material, suggesting macroscopic control over the elastic performance. With negligible influence over the elastic properties, there is a significant correlation between the grain size distribution and the nanoindentation hardness. This weak but significant grain boundary strengthening is lost when applying load orthogonal to the build direction for the precipitate‐hardened material. Hardness anisotropy is moreover observed in fine‐grained regions for the as‐processed sample. In contrast to the isotropy reported from larger‐scale mechanical tests, the discrete microstructural zones deviate from ideal isotropic behavior, and this may have consequences for simulation and design of this alloy.
Direct and Indirect Exciton Dynamics in Few‐Layered ReS2 Revealed by Photoluminescence and Pump‐Probe Spectroscopy
Authors: Wang Xiaofan , Shinokita Keisuke , Lim Hong En , Mohamed Nur Baizura , Miyauchi Yuhei , Cuong Nguyen Thanh , Okada Susumu , Matsuda Kazunari
Published: December 2018

Atomically thin‐layered ReS2 with a distorted 1T structure has attracted attention because of its intriguing optical and electronic properties. Here, the direct and indirect exciton dynamics of a three‐layered ReS2 is investigated by polarization‐resolved transient photoluminescence (PL) and ultrafast pump‐probe spectroscopy. The various time scales of the decay signals of the time‐resolved PL (<10 ps), with monitoring of the populations of electron–hole pairs (exciton), and the transient differential reflectance (≈1 and 100 ps), with monitoring of the populations of electrons and/or holes in the excited states, are observed. These results reveal the characteristic exciton dynamics: rapid relaxation of direct excitons (electron–hole pairs) and slow relaxation of the momentum‐mismatched indirect excitons accompanied by a one‐phonon emission process. These findings provide important information regarding the indirect bandgap nature of few‐layered ReS2 and its characteristic exciton dynamics, boosting the understanding of the novel electronic and optical properties of atomically thin‐layered ReS2.
Enhancing the Capacitive Storage Performance of Carbon Fiber Textile by Surface and Structural Modulation for Advanced Flexible Asymmetric Supercapacitors
Authors: Han Yi , Lu Yongzhuang , Shen Shenghui , Zhong Yu , Liu Si , Xia Xinhui , Tong Yexiang , Lu Xihong
Published: December 2018

The exploration of high‐energy anodes with good mechanical properties is highly attractive for flexible asymmetric supercapacitors (ASCs) but challenging. Owing to the excellent conductivity and superior mechanical flexibility, carbon fiber textile (CFT) holds great promise as a substrate/current‐collector for fabricating flexible electrodes. Yet, it is rarely used as a flexible active electrode in terms of its low electrochemical reactivity and small accessible area. In this work, an effective surface and structural modulation strategy is developed to directly tune CFT into a highly active anode for flexible ASCs by creating hierarchical pores and numerous pseudocapacitive oxygenic groups. Arising from large surface and increased active sites, the as‐prepared activated porous CFT (APCFT) electrode not only achieves a large capacitance (1.2 F cm−2 at 4 mA cm−2) and fast kinetics but also shows satisfying cycling durability (no capacitance decay after 25 000 cycles). More importantly, an advanced flexible ASC device with an impressive energy density of 4.70 mWh cm−3 is successfully assembled by employing this APCFT as an anode, outperforming most recently reported ASC devices. This dual modification strategy may throw light on the rational design of new generation advanced carbon electrodes for high‐performance flexible supercapacitors.
Myelin Sheath as a Dielectric Waveguide for Signal Propagation in the Mid‐Infrared to Terahertz Spectral Range
Authors: Liu Guozhi , Chang Chao , Qiao Zhi , Wu Kaijie , Zhu Zhi , Cui Gangqiang , Peng Wenyu , Tang Yuzhao , Li Jiang , Fan Chunhai
Published: December 2018

The myelin sheath enables dramatic speed enhancement for signal propagation in nerves. In this work, myelinated nerve structure is experimentally and theoretically studied using synchrotron‐radiation‐based Fourier‐transform infrared microspectroscopy. It is found that, with a certain mid‐infrared to terahertz spectral range, the myelin sheath possesses a ≈2‐fold higher refraction index compared to the outer medium or the inner axon, suggesting that myelin can serve as an infrared dielectric waveguide. By calculating the correlation between the material characteristics of myelin and the radical energy distribution in myelinated nerves, it is demonstrated that the sheath, with a normal thickness (≈2 µm) and dielectric constant in nature, can confine the infrared field energy within the sheath and enable the propagation of an infrared signal at the millimeter scale without dramatic energy loss. The energy of signal propagation is supplied and amplified when crossing the nodes of Ranvier via periodic relay. These findings provide the first model for explaining the mechanism of infrared and terahertz neurotransmission through myelinated nerves, which may promote the development of biological‐tissue label‐free detection, biomaterial‐based sensors, neural information, and noninvasive brain–machine interfaces.
In‐Plane Anisotropic Thermal Conductivity of Few‐Layered Transition Metal Dichalcogenide Td‐WTe2
Authors: Chen Yu , Peng Bo , Cong Chunxiao , Shang Jingzhi , Wu Lishu , Yang Weihuang , Zhou Jiadong , Yu Peng , Zhang Hongbo , Wang Yanlong , Zou Chenji , Zhang Jing , Liu Sheng , Xiong Qihua , Shao Hezhu , Liu Zheng , Zhang Hao , Huang Wei , Yu Ting
Published: December 2018

2D Td‐WTe2 has attracted increasing attention due to its promising applications in spintronic, field‐effect chiral, and high‐efficiency thermoelectric devices. It is known that thermal conductivity plays a crucial role in condensed matter devices, especially in 2D systems where phonons, electrons, and magnons are highly confined and coupled. This work reports the first experimental evidence of in‐plane anisotropic thermal conductivities in suspended Td‐WTe2 samples of different thicknesses, and is also the first demonstration of such anisotropy in 2D transition metal dichalcogenides. The results reveal an obvious anisotropy in the thermal conductivities between the zigzag and armchair axes. The theoretical calculation implies that the in‐plane anisotropy is attributed to the different mean free paths along the two orientations. As thickness decreases, the phonon‐boundary scattering increases faster along the armchair direction, resulting in stronger anisotropy. The findings here are crucial for developing efficient thermal management schemes when engineering thermal‐related applications of a 2D system.
Self‐Assembled Networked PbS Distribution Quantum Dots for Resistive Switching and Artificial Synapse Performance Boost of Memristors
Authors: Yan Xiaobing , Pei Yifei , Chen Huawei , Zhao Jianhui , Zhou Zhenyu , Wang Hong , Zhang Lei , Wang Jingjuan , Li Xiaoyan , Qin Cuiya , Wang Gong , Xiao Zuoao , Zhao Qianlong , Wang Kaiyang , Li Hui , Ren Deliang , Liu Qi , Zhou Hao , Chen Jingsheng , Zhou Peng
Published: December 2018

With the advent of the era of big data, resistive random access memory (RRAM) has become one of the most promising nanoscale memristor devices (MDs) for storing huge amounts of information. However, the switching voltage of the RRAM MDs shows a very broad distribution due to the random formation of the conductive filaments. Here, self‐assembled lead sulfide (PbS) quantum dots (QDs) are used to improve the uniformity of switching parameters of RRAM, which is very simple comparing with other methods. The resistive switching (RS) properties of the MD with the self‐assembled PbS QDs exhibit better performance than those of MDs with pure‐Ga2O3 and randomly distributed PbS QDs, such as a reduced threshold voltage, uniformly distributed SET and RESET voltages, robust retention, fast response time, and low power consumption. This enhanced performance may be attributed to the ordered arrangement of the PbS QDs in the self‐assembled PbS QDs which can efficiently guide the growth direction for the conducting filaments. Moreover, biosynaptic functions and plasticity, are implemented successfully in the MD with the self‐assembled PbS QDs. This work offers a new method of improving memristor performance, which can significantly expand existing applications and facilitate the development of artificial neural systems.
Recent Advances in Nanozyme Research
Authors: Wang Hui , Wan Kaiwei , Shi Xinghua
Published: December 2018

As a new generation of artificial enzymes, nanozymes have the advantages of high catalytic activity, good stability, low cost, and other unique properties of nanomaterials. Due to their wide range of potential applications, they have become an emerging field bridging nanotechnology and biology, attracting researchers in various fields to design and synthesize highly catalytically active nanozymes. However, the thorough understanding of experimental phenomena and the mechanisms beneath practical applications of nanozymes limits their rapid development. Herein, the progress of experimental and computational research of nanozymes on two issues over the past decade is briefly reviewed: (1) experimental development of new nanozymes mimicking different types of enzymes. This covers their structures and applications ranging from biosensing and bioimaging to therapeutics and environmental protection. (2) The catalytic mechanism proposed by experimental and theoretical study. The challenges and future directions of computational research in this field are also discussed.
Sustainable Carbonaceous Materials Derived from Biomass as Metal‐Free Electrocatalysts
Authors: Zhang Zhengping , Yang Shaoxuan , Li Hanyu , Zan Yongxi , Li Xueyan , Zhu Ying , Dou Meiling , Wang Feng
Published: December 2018

Although carbon is the second most abundant element in the biosphere, a large proportion of the available carbon resources in biomass from agriculture, stock farming, ocean fisheries, and other human activities is currently wasted. The use of sustainable carbonaceous materials as an alternative to precious metals in electrocatalysis is a promising pathway for transforming sustainable biomass resources into sustainable energy‐conversion systems. The development of rational syntheses of metal‐free carbonaceous catalysts derived from sustainable biomass has therefore become a topic of significant interest in materials chemistry. However, great efforts are still required to develop methods that are low cost, scalable, and environmentally friendly and which afford carbonaceous materials having an electrocatalytic performance comparable to, or even better than, existing precious metal catalysts. Herein, recent achievements in developing metal‐free carbonaceous catalysts based on biomass are reviewed and discussed and the critical issues which still need to be addressed are highlighted. The focus is on representative synthesis and optimization strategies applicable to different kinds of biomass, as well as studies of the physicochemical structure and electrochemical performance of the resulting metal‐free carbonaceous catalysts. Finally, some guidelines for the future development of this important area are provided.
The Crown and the Scepter: Roles of the Protein Corona in Nanomedicine
Authors: Cai Rong , Chen Chunying
Published: December 2018

Engineering nanomaterials are increasingly considered promising and powerful biomedical tools or devices for imaging, drug delivery, and cancer therapies, but few nanomaterials have been tested in clinical trials. This wide gap between bench discoveries and clinical application is mainly due to the limited understanding of the biological identity of nanomaterials. When they are exposed to the human body, nanoparticles inevitably interact with bodily fluids and thereby adsorb hundreds of biomolecules. A “biomolecular corona” forms on the surface of nanomaterials and confers a new biological identity for NPs, which determines the following biological events: cellular uptake, immune response, biodistribution, clearance, and toxicity. A deep and thorough understanding of the biological effects triggered by the protein corona in vivo will speed up their translation to the clinic. To date, nearly all studies have attempted to characterize the components of protein coronas depending on different physiochemical properties of NPs. Herein, recent advances are reviewed in order to better understand the impact of the biological effects of the nanoparticle–corona on nanomedicine applications. The recent development of the impact of protein corona formation on the pharmacokinetics of nanomedicines is also highlighted. Finally, the challenges and opportunities of nanomedicine toward future clinical applications are discussed.
Facile Synthesis of Nitrogen‐Rich Carbon Dots as Fertilizers for Mung Bean Sprouts
Authors: Wang Aiwu , Kang Fengwen , Wang Zhigang , Shao Qingguo , Li Zhe , Zhu Guangyu , Lu Jian , Li Yang Yang
Published: December 2018

Nitrogen‐doped carbon‐dots (N‐CDs) are synthesized using a solid‐state method and applied as nanofertilizers. Specifically, 70 g of mung bean seeds are cultivated in the aqueous solution of N‐CDs (0.2 mg mL−1) and yields 646 g of bean sprouts; this yield is significantly higher than that obtained in the pure water control (i.e., 550 g of bean sprouts from 70 g of beans). Furthermore, blue florescence is observed during the sprouting process, which gradually migrates from the beans to the root ends, implying the absorption and migration of the N‐CDs during this process. This work demonstrates that the N‐CDs not only serve as a new fertilizer for promoting plant growth but also enable in vivo monitoring of the plant growth progress of plants, opening up new possibilities of CDs‐related materials for future agricultural applications.
2D/2D Graphitic Carbon Nitride/Antimonene Heterostructure: Structural Characterization and Application in Photocatalysis
Authors: Barrio Jesús , Gibaja Carlos , Tzadikov Jonathan , Shalom Menny , Zamora Félix
Published: December 2018

Sandwiched van der Waals heterostructures based on the combination of suitable layered materials can give rise to novel nanomaterials with enhanced properties due to synergic effects. In this work, a simple two‐step procedure based on the mixture of two suspensions containing the graphitic carbon nitride and antimonene flakes is used to produce heterostructures of different compositions, CNSbx. The materials have been characterized using spectroscopic, diffractometric, and microscopic techniques. The results confirm that carbon nitride (CN) and antimonene flakes are well‐connected, forming a type I heterojunction. The CNSbx van der Waals heterostructures show improvements in the optical absorption as well as charge separation under illumination, as well as greater photoactivity in the degradation of organic pollutants to that showed for pristine CN. These results suggest potential applications in photoelectrochemical devices for heterostructures based on the combination of CNs with antimonene.
Simultaneous Enhancement of Three Parameters of P3HT‐Based Organic Solar Cells with One Oxygen Atom
Authors: Wu Jianfei , Xu Yunxiao , Yang Zhou , Chen Yusheng , Sui Xinyu , Yang Lei , Ye Pan , Zhu Ting , Wu Xiaoxi , Liu Xinfeng , Cao Hui , Peng Aidong , Huang Hui
Published: December 2018

Poly(3‐hexylthiophene) (P3HT)‐based organic solar cells (OSCs) have attracted much attention due to their advantages of low‐cost production and matured roll‐to‐roll manufacture. However, the efficiency of P3HT‐based OSCs lag much behind the non‐P3HT ones due to their negligible absorption of long wavelengths of light over 650 nm, high‐lying highest occupied molecular orbitals (HOMO), and difficulty of controlling morphology. In this study, the alkyl chains of the nonfullerene acceptors are replaced with alkoxy chains to achieve synergistic enhancement of all three parameters ( short circuit current density (JSC), open circuit voltage (VOC), and fill factor (FF)) and thus significant increase of power conversion efficiency for P3HT‐based OSCs. As a result, the OSCs exhibit a maxima efficiency of 6.6%. The P3HT‐based systems are systematically studied with optical spectroscopy, photoluminescence, cyclic voltametry, space charge limit current, grazing incident wide‐angle X‐ray scattering, transient absorption spectroscopy, transmission electron microscope, and atomic force microscopy to probe the mechanism, which reveal that introducing alkoxy chains simultaneously increases the energy levels of the HOMO and the lowest unoccupied molecular orbitals, enhances the light absorption, improves the rigidity of the backbone and charge transport mobility, and tunes the molecular orientation and film morphology, thus improving the photovoltaic performance. This contribution provides an important guidance in the design of novel nonfullerene acceptors for high‐performance P3HT‐based OSCs.
Structurally Reconstructed CsPbI2Br Perovskite for Highly Stable and Square‐Centimeter All‐Inorganic Perovskite Solar Cells
Authors: Liu Chong , Li Wenzhe , Li Huanyong , Wang Huamin , Zhang Cuiling , Yang Yingguo , Gao Xingyu , Xue Qifan , Yip Hin‐Lap , Fan Jiandong , Schropp Ruud E. I. , Mai Yaohua
Published: December 2018

Although all‐inorganic perovskite solar cells (PSCs) demonstrate high thermal stability, cesium‐lead halide perovskites with high iodine content suffer from poor stability of the black phase (α‐phase). In this study, it is demonstrated that incorporating InCl3 into the host perovskite lattice helps to inhibit the formation of yellow phase (δ‐phase) perovskite and thereby enhances the long‐term ambient stability. The enhanced stability is achieved by a strategy for the structural reconstruction of CsPbI2Br perovskite by means of In3+ and Cl− codoping, which gives rise to a significant improvement in the overall spatial symmetry with a closely packed atom arrangement due to the crystal structure transformation from orthorhombic (Pnma) to cubic (Pm‐3m). In addition, a novel thermal radiation heating method that further improves the uniformity of the perovskite thin films is presented. This approach enables the construction of all‐inorganic InCl3:CsPbI2Br PSCs with a champion power conversion efficiency of 13.74% for a small‐area device (0.09 cm2) and 11.4% for a large‐area device (1.00 cm2).
Clinical identification of feeding and swallowing disorders in 0–6 month old infants with Down syndrome
Authors: Stanley Maria A. , Shepherd Nicole , Duvall Nichole , Jenkinson Sandra B. , Jalou Hasnaa E. , Givan Deborah C. , Steele Gregory H. , Davis Charlene , Bull Marilyn J. , Watkins Donna U. , Roper Randall J.
Published: December 2018

Feeding and swallowing disorders have been described in children with a variety of neurodevelopmental disabilities, including Down syndrome (DS). Abnormal feeding and swallowing can be associated with serious sequelae such as failure to thrive and respiratory complications, including aspiration pneumonia. Incidence of dysphagia in young infants with DS has not previously been reported. To assess the identification and incidence of feeding and swallowing problems in young infants with DS, a retrospective chart review of 174 infants, ages 0–6 months was conducted at a single specialty clinic. Fifty‐seven percent (100/174) of infants had clinical concerns for feeding and swallowing disorders that warranted referral for Videofluroscopic Swallow Study (VFSS); 96/174 (55%) had some degree of oral and/or pharyngeal phase dysphagia and 69/174 (39%) had dysphagia severe enough to warrant recommendation for alteration of breast milk/formula consistency or nonoral feeds. Infants with certain comorbidities had significant risk for significant dysphagia, including those with functional airway/respiratory abnormalities (OR = 7.2). Infants with desaturation with feeds were at dramatically increased risk (OR = 15.8). All young infants with DS should be screened clinically for feeding and swallowing concerns. If concerns are identified, consideration should be given to further evaluation with VFSS for identification of dysphagia and additional feeding modifications.
Easy Access to Water‐Soluble Cationic Porphyrin‐β‐Carboline Conjugates as Potent Photocytotoxic and DNA Cleaving Agents
Authors: Reddy P. O. Venkataramana , Shekar K. P. Chandra , Khandagale Santosh B. , Hara Daiki , Son Aoi , Ito Takeo , Tanabe Kazuhito , Kumar Dalip
Published: December 2018

Microwave (MW)‐assisted efficient and rapid approach is developed to prepare water‐soluble cationic porphyrin‐β‐carboline conjugates by coupling of β‐carboline acid and 5‐(4‐aminophenyl)tripyridyl porphyrin and followed by N‐methylation of neutral porphyrin‐β‐carboline conjugates. Prepared neutral and cationic conjugates were screened for photocytotoxicity against lung (A549) and colon (Colon‐26) cancer cells. Conjugate 9 b was found to be the most potent conjugate with IC50 values ranging 39–47 nM against the tested cancer cell lines. Further, UV‐visible spectroscopy studies demonstrated that the conjugate 9 b in the presence of visible light shows intercalation upon binding to double‐stranded DNA. Additionally, the porphyrin‐β‐carboline conjugate 9 b (2.3×106 M−1) having binding constant (Kb) similar to H2TMPyP (2.5×106 M−1) displayed efficient visible light‐induced DNA cleavage and triggered cell death of A549 cells.
Chemical Protein Synthesis Enabled Mechanistic Studies on the Molecular Recognition of K27‐linked Ubiquitin Chains
Authors: Pan Man , Zheng Qingyun , Ding Shan , Zhang Lujia , Qu Qian , Wang Tian , Hong Danning , Ren Yujing , Liang Lujun , Chen Chunlai , Mei Ziqing , Liu Lei
Published: December 2018

New synthetic strategies that exploited the strengths of both chemoselective ligation and recombinant protein expression were developed to prepare K27 di‐ubiquitins (diUb), which enabled mechanistic studies on the molecular recognition of K27‐linked Ubs by single‐molecule Förster resonance energy transfer (smFRET) and X‐ray crystallography. The results revealed that free K27 diUb adopted a compact conformation, whereas upon binding to UCHL3, K27 diUb was remodeled to an open conformation. The K27 isopeptide bond remained rigidly buried inside the diUb moiety during binding, an interesting unique structural feature that may explain the distinctive biological function of K27 Ub chains.