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Cross-linguistic perception is known to be molded by native and second language (L2) experiences. Yet, the role of prosodic patterns and individual characteristics on how speakers of tonal languages perceive L2 Spanish sentence modalities remains relatively underexplored. This study addresses the gap by analyzing the auditory performance of 75 Mandarin speakers with varying levels of Spanish proficiency. The experiment consisted of four parts: the first three collected sociolinguistic profiles and assessed participants’ pragmatic competence and musical abilities. The last part involved an auditory gating task, where participants were asked to identify Spanish broad focus statements and information-seeking yes/no questions with different stress patterns. Results indicated that the shape of intonation contours and the position of the final stressed syllable significantly impact learners’ perceptual accuracy, with effects modulated by utterance length and L2 proficiency. Moreover, individual differences in pragmatic and musical competence were found to refine auditory and cognitive processing in Mandarin learners, thereby influencing their ability to discriminate question-statement contrasts. These findings reveal the complex interplay between prosodic and individual variations in L2 speech perception, providing novel insights into how speakers of tonal languages process intonation in a non-native Romance language like Spanish.

All‐solid‐state lithium batteries have emerged as a priority candidate for the next generation of safe and energy‐dense energy storage devices surpassing state‐of‐art lithium‐ion batteries. Among multitudinous solid‐state batteries based on solid electrolytes (SEs), sulfide SEs have attracted burgeoning scrutiny due to their superior ionic conductivity and outstanding formability. However, from the perspective of their practical applications concerning cell integration and production, it is still extremely challenging to constructing compatible electrolyte/electrode interfaces and developing available scale processing technologies. This review presents a critical overview of the current underlying understanding of interfacial issues and analyzes the main processing challenges faced by sulfide‐based all‐solid‐state batteries from the aspects of cost‐effective and energy‐dense design. Besides, the corresponding approaches involving interface engineering and processing protocols for addressing these issues and challenges are summarized. Fundamental and engineering perspectives on future development avenues toward practical application of high energy, safety, and long‐life sulfide‐based all‐solid‐state batteries are ultimately provided. Sulfide‐based all‐solid‐state lithium batteries have emerged as a priority candidate for the next generation of energy‐dense and safe energy storage devices. This review presents a critical overview of the current underlying understanding of interfacial issues and analyzes the main processing challenges faced by sulfide‐based all‐solid‐state batteries. The corresponding approaches involving interface engineering and processing protocols are highlighted. Fundamental and engineering perspectives on future development avenues toward their practical application are also presented.

We propose a meta-emitter based on micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) technology. The main structure of the meta-emitter unit cell is composed of four symmetrically split crosses of Au and SiO2 bilayer cantilevers. By changing the size of the cantilevers, this MEMS-based meta-emitter can realize the tunable perfect absorption, and the absorption spectrum is within the longwave infrared (LWIR) wavelength from 8.90 to 11.90 µm. When the surface temperature of the meta-emitter rises, the electrothermal actuation mechanism is performed through the different thermal expansion coefficient (TEC) of the bilayer cantilevers. Therefore, the cantilevers will be bent downward and the bending height of the cantilevers decreases linearly. In such case, the peak value of thermal radiation power can be tuned from the wavelength of 9.52 µm to 10.48 µm when the temperature of meta-emitter is increased from 293 to 1290 K. This proposed MEMS-based meta-emitter is an excellent LWIR light source and has potential application prospects in gas sensing, infrared spectroscopy analysis, medical care and so on.

As one of the components of the lithium ion batteries (LIBs), the separator plays a vital part in the safety and electrochemical performance. In this work, a ZrO2-ceramic-coated polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) nanofibrous separator for LIBs was successfully prepared by electrospinning, subsequent dopamine hydrophilic modification and biomimetic mineralization process. These preparation processes were environmentally friendly and simple. The ZrO2-ceramic coating endows the separator with outstanding electrolyte wettability and thermal stability. To be specific, the separator exhibits higher ionic conductivity (2.261 mS cm−1), high porosity (85.1%) and favorable electrolyte wettability (352%), and lower interfacial impedance (220 Ω). Compared with commercial polyolefin separator and PVDF nanofibrous separator, the ZrO2-ceramic-coated PVDF nanofibrous separator exhibits excellent rate performance and well cyclic stability. Most importantly the ZrO2–PDA/PEI–PVDF separator can still maintain a complete structure even at a high temperature of 300 °C. Compared with commercial separators, it greatly improves the safety of lithium ion batteries at high temperature. Therefore, this separator has far-reaching prospects for improving lithium ion safety and cycle stability.

All‐solid‐state Li metal batteries (ASSLMBs) have been considered the most promising candidates for next‐generation energy storage devices owing to their high‐energy density and safety. However, some obstacles such as thick solid electrolyte (SSEs) and unstable interface between the solid‐state electrolytes (SSEs) and the electrodes have restricted the practical application of ASSLBs. Here, the scalable polyimide (PI) film reinforced asymmetric ultra‐thin (~20 μm) composite solid electrolyte (AU‐CSE) with a ceramic‐rich layer and polymer‐rich layer is fabricated by a both‐side casting method and rolling process. The ceramic‐rich layer not only acts as a “securer” to inhibit the lithium dendrite growth but also redistributes Li‐ions uniform deposition, while the polymer‐rich layer improves the compatibility with cathode materials. As a result, the obtained AU‐CSE demonstrates an ionic conductivity of 1.44 × 10−4 S cm−1 at 35°C. The PI‐reinforced AU‐CSE enables Li/Li symmetric cell stable cycling over 1200 h at 0.2 mA cm−2 and 0.2 mAh cm−2. Li/LiNi0.6Co0.2Mn0.2O2 and Li/LiFePO4 ASSLMBs achieve superior performances at 35°C. This study provides a new way of solving the interface problems between SSEs and electrodes and developing high‐energy‐density ASSLMBs for practical applications. An asymmetric ultra‐thin composite solid electrolyte with ceramic‐ and polymer‐rich layers was constructed to simultaneously overcome the lithium dendrite growth on the anode side and the large resistance on the cathode side.

Utilization of lithium (Li) metal anodes in all‐solid‐state batteries employing sulfide solid electrolytes is hindered by diffusion‐related dendrite growth at high rates of charge. Engineering ex‐situ Li‐intermetallic interlayers derived from a facile solution‐based conversion‐alloy reaction is attractive for bypassing the Li0 self‐diffusion restriction. However, no correlation is established between the properties of conversion‐reaction‐induced (CRI) interlayers and the deposition behavior of Li0 in all‐solid‐state lithium‐metal batteries (ASSLBs). Herein, using a control set of electrochemical characterization experiments with LixAgy as the interlayer in different battery chemistries, this work identifies that dendritic tolerance in ASSLBs is susceptible to the surface roughness and electronic conductivity of the CRI‐alloy interlayer. This work thereby tailors the CRI‐alloy interlayer from the typical mosaic structure to a hierarchical gradient structure by adjusting the pit corrosion kinetics from the (de)solvation mechanism to an adsorption model, yielding a smooth organic‐rich outer layer and a composition‐regulated inorganic‐rich inner layer composed mainly of lithiophilic LixAgy and electron‐insulating LiF. Ultimately, desirable roughness, conductivity, and diffusivity are integrated simultaneously into the tailored CRI‐alloy interlayer, resulting in dendrite‐free and dense Li deposition beneath the interlayer capable of improving battery cycling stability. This work provides a rational protocol for the CRI‐alloy interlayer specialized for ASSLBs. The correlations between the properties of prevalent conversion‐reaction‐induced (CRI) alloy interlayers and dendrite growth in all‐solid‐state lithium‐metal batteries (ASSLBs) are established in this work. A tailored CRI alloy interlayer based on the adsorption‐alloy mechanism is thereby proposed to achieve dendrite‐free and dense Li0 deposition capable of prolonged battery cycling stability at high rates of charge.

The manipulation of biomedical particles, such as separating circulating tumor cells from blood, based on standing surface acoustic wave (SSAW) has been widely used due to its advantages of label-free approaches and good biocompatibility. However, most of the existing SSAW-based separation technologies are dedicated to isolate bioparticles in only two different sizes. It is still challenging to fractionate various particles in more than two different sizes with high efficiency and accuracy. In this work, to tackle the problems of low efficiency for multiple cell particle separation, integrated multi-stage SSAW devices with different wavelengths driven by modulated signals were designed and studied. A three-dimensional microfluidic device model was proposed and analyzed using the finite element method (FEM). In addition, the effect of the slanted angle, acoustic pressure, and the resonant frequency of the SAW device on the particle separation were systemically studied. From the theoretical results, the separation efficiency of three different size particles based on the multi-stage SSAW devices reached 99%, which was significantly improved compared with conventional single-stage SSAW devices.

An UPLC-MS/MS method was developed and validated for simultaneous determination of atracurium (ATC), dexmedetomidine (DEX), midazolam (MDZ) and 1-hydroxymidazolam (1-OH-MDZ) and the pharmacokinetics of ATC, DEX, MDZ and 1-OH-MDZ in patients undergoing aortic dissection surgery were investigated. The analytes were extracted by acetonitrile precipitation and separated on an Acquity UPLC BEH C18 column (2.1 mm × 50 mm, 1.7 μm) with a mobile phase of acetonitrile-0.1% formic acid and a gradient mode. In the positive ion mode, the following mass transition pairs were monitored by multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) for the four analytes and IS: m/z 385.1→206.2 for ATC, m/z 201.2→95.1 for DEX, m/z 326.1→291.1 for MDZ, m/z 341.9→324.0 for 1-OH-MDZ, and 284.9→153.9 for diazepam (IS). Seven male patients undergoing aortic dissection surgery received general anesthesia and intravenous administration of ATC, DEX, and MDZ during the surgery. Venous blood was collected at different time points at the end of surgery and after surgery. The concentrations of ATC, DEX, MDZ, and 1-OH-MDZ were detected, and the pharmacokinetic parameters were calculated. The method showed good linearity for each analyte. The inter-batch precision ranged from 1.37% to 9.87% and the intra-batch precision ranged from 2.41% to 10.72%; the accuracy ranged from 94.33% to 104.51%. Finally, the matrix effect, extraction recovery and stability data met the FDA recommended acceptance criteria for validation of bioanalytical methods. The t of ATC, DEX, MDZ and 1-OH-MDZ was (6.74 ± 2.27) h, (9.55 ± 4.93) h, (10.17 ± 5.35) h, and (6.90 ± 2.38) h, the C , of ATC, DEX, MDZ and 1-OH-MDZ was (1054.20 ± 202.37) ng/mL, (1.93 ± 1.07) ng/mL, (1256.57 ± 389.09) ng/mL, and (1034.39 ± 292.92) ng/mL in patients undergoing aortic dissection surgery, respectively. The developed UPLC-MS/MS method for simultaneous determination of ATC, DEX, MDZ and 1-OH-MDZ in patient plasma was accurate, reproducible, specific. After continuous administration of ATC, DEX, and MDZ to patients undergoing surgery for acute aortic dissection, the pharmacokinetics of ATC, DEX, MDZ and 1-OH-MDZ in patients undergoing aortic dissection surgery were studied.

In conventional nondispersive infrared (NDIR) gas sensors, a wide-spectrum IR source or detector must be combined with a narrowband filter to eliminate the interference of nontarget gases. Therefore, the multiplexed NDIR gas sensor requires multiple pairs of narrowband filters, which is not conducive to miniaturization and integration. Although plasmonic metamaterials or multilayer thin-film structures are widely applied in spectral absorption filters, realizing high-performance, large-area, multiband, and compact filters is rather challenging. In this study, we propose and demonstrate a narrowband meta-absorber based on a planar metal–insulator–metal (MIM) cavity with a metallic ultrathin film atop. Nearly perfect absorption of different wavelengths can be obtained by controlling the thickness of the dielectric spacer. More significantly, the proposed meta-absorber exhibits angle-dependent characteristics. The absorption spectra of different gases can be matched by changing the incident angle of the light source. We also preliminarily investigate the CO 2 gas sensing capability of the meta-absorber. Afterward, we propose a tunable meta-absorber integrated with a microelectromechanical system (MEMS)-based electrothermal actuator (ETA). By applying a direct current (DC) bias voltage, the inclination angle of the meta-absorber can be controlled, and the relationship between the inclination angle and the applied voltage can be deduced theoretically. The concept of a tunable MEMS-based meta-absorber offers a new way toward highly integrated, miniaturized and energy-efficient NDIR multigas sensing systems.

This paper proposes a 4–5R rolling mechanism based on the spatial extension design of a planar 6R single-loop chain. By analyzing the locomotion of the planar equivalent form, a modular gait theory integrating different modes of gait with high efficiency, low energy consumption, and high speed is established. A unified kinematic strategy expression, encapsulated in the form of the gait period table, is tailored for the kinematic chain's gait on the flat terrain. A contrast gait is conducted to ascertain its velocity parameters and volatility of the center of mass (CM). By optimizing the corresponding indicators, two distinct gait patterns are achieved: a faster speed gait that prioritizes increased speed and a steady gait that emphasizes stability with reduced CM volatility. Drawing from the mobility analysis and simulation outcomes of the planar 6R single-loop kinematic chain, a theory of locomotion for a closed-chain linkage mechanism in space is proposed. A locomotion strategy on the flat ground is derived, and a unified evaluation index is proposed. Finally, the feasibility of the two working modes is verified using a physical prototype. The theoretical work in this paper simplifies the design process of closed-chain linkage robots and improves the mobility performance of closed-chain linkage robots. It lays the foundation for researching new types of closed-chain linkage robots.