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This study examined the impact of STEAM Maker Instruction (SMI) on the acquisition of a third language, and the development of socioemotional skills among multi-ethnic undergraduates (n = 265). By integrating the 5E instructional model with 36 real-world business projects, this study aimed to bridge the gap between traditional multiethnic classrooms and societal expectations. Analysis of the data indicated that socioemotional skills are essential in managing students' anxiety and aspirations, which in turn fosters their creativity and academic performance in English for Specific Purposes (ESP). The 5E model significantly improved students' business knowledge, learning skills, and attitudes, including learning capacity, social interaction, self-regulation, open innovation, team collaboration, and creativity. Social interactions, which rely on self-regulation, self-management, and resilience, were found to be essential for fostering creativity. This study demonstrated that SMI can develop socioemotional skills through engagement with real-world business projects. It offers a pathway for multicultural classroom teaching by incorporating SMI into undergraduate curricula. Nonetheless, this study acknowledges certain limitations, such as the limited sample size and concentration in a specific academic field. Future research should explore the long-term effects of socio-emotional skills and academic outcomes beyond the classroom. This includes examining the relationships among emotional engagement, behavioral engagement, and self-efficacy in the context of career decision-making strategies.

Although alkaline zinc-manganese dioxide batteries have dominated the primary battery applications, it is challenging to make them rechargeable. Here we report a high-performance rechargeable zinc-manganese dioxide system with an aqueous mild-acidic zinc triflate electrolyte. We demonstrate that the tunnel structured manganese dioxide polymorphs undergo a phase transition to layered zinc-buserite on first discharging, thus allowing subsequent intercalation of zinc cations in the latter structure. Based on this electrode mechanism, we formulate an aqueous zinc/manganese triflate electrolyte that enables the formation of a protective porous manganese oxide layer. The cathode exhibits a high reversible capacity of 225 mAh g −1 and long-term cyclability with 94% capacity retention over 2000 cycles. Remarkably, the pouch zinc-manganese dioxide battery delivers a total energy density of 75.2 Wh kg −1 . As a result of the superior battery performance, the high safety of aqueous electrolyte, the facile cell assembly and the cost benefit of the source materials, this zinc-manganese dioxide system is believed to be promising for large-scale energy storage applications. The development of rechargeable aqueous zinc batteries are challenging but promising for energy storage applications. With a mild-acidic triflate electrolyte, here the authors show a high-performance Zn-MnO 2 battery in which the MnO 2 cathode undergoes Zn 2+ (de)intercalation.

Layered transition-metal oxides have attracted intensive interest for cathode materials of sodium-ion batteries. However, they are hindered by the limited capacity and inferior phase transition due to the gliding of transition-metal layers upon Na + extraction and insertion in the cathode materials. Here, we report that the large-sized K + is riveted in the prismatic Na + sites of P2-Na 0.612 K 0.056 MnO 2 to enable more thermodynamically favorable Na + vacancies. The Mn-O bonds are reinforced to reduce phase transition during charge and discharge. 0.901 Na + per formula are reversibly extracted and inserted, in which only the two-phase transition of P2 ↔ P’2 occurs at low voltages. It exhibits the highest specific capacity of 240.5 mAh g −1 and energy density of 654 Wh kg −1 based on the redox of Mn 3+ /Mn 4+ , and a capacity retention of 98.2% after 100 cycles. This investigation will shed lights on the tuneable chemical environments of transition-metal oxides for advanced cathode materials and promote the development of sodium-ion batteries. High-capacity and structural stable cathode materials are challenges for sodium-ion batteries. Here, the authors report a layered P2-Na 0.612 K 0.056 MnO 2 with large-sized K + riveted in the Na-layers to enable 0.9 Na + (de)insertion with a reversible phase transition of P2-P’2.

Lithium–oxygen cells have attracted extensive interests due to their high theoretical energy densities. The main challenges are the low round-trip efficiency and cycling instability over long time. However, even in the state-of-the-art lithium–oxygen cells the charge potentials are as high as 3.5 V that are higher by 0.70 V than the discharge potentials. Here we report a reaction mechanism at an oxygen cathode, ruthenium and manganese dioxide nanoparticles supported on carbon black Super P by applying a trace amount of water in electrolytes to catalyse the cathode reactions of lithium–oxygen cells during discharge and charge. This can significantly reduce the charge overpotential to 0.21 V, and results in a small discharge/charge potential gap of 0.32 V and superior cycling stability of 200 cycles. The overall reaction scheme will alleviate side reactions involving carbon and electrolytes, and shed light on the construction of practical, rechargeable lithium–oxygen cells. The main challenges in lithium-oxygen batteries are the low round-trip efficiency and decaying cycle life. Here, the authors present that a trace amount of water in electrolytes facilitates oxygen cathode reactions, enabling the batteries to be operated with small overpotential and good cycling stability.

Lithium metal batteries (LMBs) have gained increasing attention owing to high energy density for large-scale energy storage applications. However, serious side reactions between Li anodes and organic electrolytes lead to low Columbic efficiency and Li dendrites. Although progress has been achieved in constructing electrode structures, the interfacial instability of Li anodes is still challenging. Solvation chemistry significantly affects the electrolyte properties and interfacial reactions, but the reaction mechanisms and the roles of each component in electrolytes are still vague. This review spotlights the recent development of electrolyte regulation with concentration and composition adjustments, aiming to understanding the correlation between solvation structures and Li anode stability. Further perspectives on the solvation design are provided in light of anode interfacial stability in LMBs.

Mitochondria, responsible for cellular energy synthesis and signal transduction, intricately regulate diverse metabolic processes, mediating fundamental biological phenomena such as cell growth, aging, and apoptosis. Tumor invasion and metastasis, key characteristics of malignancies, significantly impact patient prognosis. Tumor cells frequently exhibit metabolic abnormalities in mitochondria, including alterations in metabolic dynamics and changes in the expression of relevant metabolic genes and associated signal transduction pathways. Recent investigations unveil further insights into mitochondrial metabolic abnormalities, revealing their active involvement in tumor cell proliferation, resistance to chemotherapy, and a crucial role in tumor cell invasion and metastasis. This paper comprehensively outlines the latest research advancements in mitochondrial structure and metabolic function. Emphasis is placed on summarizing the role of mitochondrial metabolic abnormalities in tumor invasion and metastasis, including alterations in the mitochondrial genome (mutations), activation of mitochondrial-to-nuclear signaling, and dynamics within the mitochondria, all intricately linked to the processes of tumor invasion and metastasis. In conclusion, the paper discusses unresolved scientific questions in this field, aiming to provide a theoretical foundation and novel perspectives for developing innovative strategies targeting tumor invasion and metastasis based on mitochondrial biology. Graphical Abstract

We report the synthesis and electrochemical sodium storage of cobalt disulfide （COS2） with various micro/nano-structures. CoS2 with microscale sizes are either assembled by nanoparticles （P-CoS2） via a facile solvothermal route or nano- octahedrons constructed solid （O-COS2） and hollow microstructures （H-CoS2） fabricated by hydrothermal methods. Among three morphologies, H-CoS2 exhibits the largest discharge capacities and best rate performance as anode of sodium-ion batteries （SIBs）. Furthermore, H-CoS2 delivers a capacity of 690 mA.h.g 1 at 1 A·g 1 after 100 cycles in a potential range of 0.1-3.0 V, and N240 mA.h.g-1 over 800 cycles in the potential window of 1.0-3.0 V. This cycling difference mainly lies in the two discharge plateaus observed in 0.1-3.0 V and one discharge plateau in 1.0-3.0 V. To interpret the reactions, X-ray diffraction （XRD） and transmission electron microscopy （TEM） are applied. The results show that at the first plateau around 1.4 V, the insertion reaction （COS2 ＋ xNa＊ ＋ xe NaxCoS2） Occurs; while at the second plateau around 0.6 V, the conversion reaction （NaxCoS2 ＋ （4 - x） Na＋ ＋ （4 - x）e -~ Co ＋ 2Na2S） takes place. This provides insights for electrochemical sodium storage of CoS2 as the anode of SIBs.

Tumor drug resistance is a crucial scientific and technological issue that urgently needs to be addressed in cancer treatment. In recent years, research on Lactate dehydrogenase A (LDHA) in the field of tumor drug resistance has progressively deepened, with breakthrough advancements achieved. Due to their metabolic characteristics, tumors often exhibit abnormal LDHA expression, which meets their growth requirements by promoting glycolysis and lactate production. A series of studies in recent years has revealed that in drug-resistant tumors, LDHA regulates its own expression through molecules such as transcription factors and non-coding RNAs, and regulates tumor drug resistance by influencing the stemness of tumor stem cells, TME, and intrinsic tumor drug resistance. In this paper, we first present timely updates on the expression and regulatory mechanisms of LDHA. Importantly, we systematically expound on the mechanisms through which LDHA is implicated in drug resistance to radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and immunotherapy in tumors, including lung and breast cancers. We also discuss a series of scientific issues that urgently need to be elucidated in future research in this field, aiming to provide more evidence and references for elucidating the mechanisms of LDHA-mediated tumor drug resistance and developing new intervention strategies against tumor drug resistance.

Photovoltaic cells efficiency can be effectively improved by maximum power point tracking (MPPT) technology. An improved MPPT control strategy is proposed to solve the current problems of poor convergence speed and accuracy of incremental conductance method. In this method, the P – U characteristic curve is divided into three sections: non-MPP sections, MPP-like section and MPP sections. In the non-MPP section, the constant voltage method is adopted to reduce the tracking time. In the MPP-like section, the incremental conductance method is adopted and its step size is improved, which effectively reduces the tracking time. In MPP section, particle swarm algorithm is adopted to improve tracking accuracy. Taking light intensity and temperature variation as examples, the proposed method and the traditional method are simulated respectively. Simulation results show that compared with the constant voltage method, the accuracy can be improved by more than 4% when the temperature or light intensity is changed, while maintaining the tracking speed. Compared with the traditional incremental conductivity method, the method can reduce the tracking time by 33% and improve the tracking accuracy by 1% when the light intensity or temperature changes.

Background: Tumor environment has been recognized to affect cancer cell progression, such as tumor-associated macrophages. However, increasing evidences suggest that tumor cells are capable of regulating polarization of tumor-associated macrophages. In this study, we investigate the mechanism of how colon cancer cell impacts tumor-associated macrophages polarization. Methods: We employed flow cytometry to detect marker molecules on macrophage membrane, such as CD68, CD16, and CD204. In addition, we used enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay to examine the level of these cytokines (interleukin-6, interleukin-1β, interleukin-10, and Arginase-1) secreted by colon cancer cells into the culture medium. Western blot was utilized to probe downstream proteins of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)/phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)/protein kinase B (AKT)/mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) pathway. Results: We cocultured colon cancer cell lines (HCT8 or HCT116) with human myeloid leukemia mononuclear cells (THP-1) and found that interleukin-6 and interleukin-1β levels were reduced, and instead, interleukin-10 and Arginase-1 levels were elevated, suggesting that colon cancer cells contributed to M2 polarization of THP-1. Meanwhile, high level of various growth factors (transforming growth factor-β [TGF-β], epidermal growth factor [EGF], and hepatocyte growth factor [HGF]) was observed in the medium of THP-1 cocultured with colon cancer cells. Furthermore, the protein level of phosphorylated PI3K, AKT, and mTOR significantly increased in THP-1 cell cocultured with colon cancer cells compared to THP-1 group. Besides, we established that colon cancer cells exerted their stimulatory effect on M2 polarization of macrophage from monocyte THP-1 using EGFR antibody mAb225 and PI3K inhibitor LY294002. Conclusion: We provide evidence that EGF which are secreted by colon cancer cells play contributory role in M2 polarization of macrophages, which support the notion that tumor environment, including tumor-associated macrophages, can be targeted to develop effective strategies for treating cancer.