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Thermoplastic polyurethane (PU) polymers with different chemical compositions were synthesized and casted to films, and their water vapor barrier properties at different range of relative humidity (RH) were characterized. The water vapor permeability (WVP) of packaging films is one of their most important properties to identify their suitability for use as packaging materials and is rather a complicated phenomena if the polymer has polar nature. The WVPs of PU films are determined both by permeation measurements which are a steady-state method and water vapor sorption measurements which are a non-steady-state method. Effective permeability (P eff ), solubility (S eff ), and diffusion (D eff ) coefficients of PU films were determined at 23 °C within the RH range of 0–97%. It was found that P eff , S eff , and D eff increased with increasing RH gradient due to water vapor and polymer interactions. Microscopic images showed that 1,4-butanediol (BDO) helped to improve porous structure. Castor oil (CO) caused a decrease in the intensity of active absorption sites, namely, the C=O···H-N hydrogen bonds between chains. Results of two methods were yielded in the same magnitude of order. In most cases, the non-steady-state (sorption) method yields higher WVP values than steady state. At 0➔85% RH, the difference was up to 8-fold. Conditioning and equilibrating of films at 50% RH helped to reach sorption data approximate to permeation data. It was suitable to use sorption measurements to estimate the WVP which is a considerable simplification for polar polymers, e.g., developed PU film.

Surface states generally degrade semiconductor device performance by raising the charge injection barrier height, introducing localized trap states, inducing surface leakage current, and altering the electric potential. We show that the giant built-in electric field created by the surface states can be harnessed to enable passive wavelength conversion without utilizing any nonlinear optical phenomena. Photo-excited surface plasmons are coupled to the surface states to generate an electron gas, which is routed to a nanoantenna array through the giant electric field created by the surface states. The induced current on the nanoantennas, which contains mixing product of different optical frequency components, generates radiation at the beat frequencies of the incident photons. We utilize the functionalities of plasmon-coupled surface states to demonstrate passive wavelength conversion of nanojoule optical pulses at a 1550 nm center wavelength to terahertz regime with efficiencies that exceed nonlinear optical methods by 4-orders of magnitude. Semiconductor surface states often stand in the way of device performance, but here, the authors take advantage of them for wavelength conversion. They present a compact, passive conversion device insensitive to optical alignment by using plasmon-coupled surface states that enable the efficient conversion without nonlinear phenomena.

Early grief reactions have been hypothesized to fluctuate within persons and to be one of the strongest predictors of Prolonged Grief Disorder (PGD). Experience Sampling Methodology (ESM) offers an opportunity to examine (early) PGD dynamics in daily contexts. For this, however, a brief and valid ESM scale is needed to accurately assess PGD symptoms in everyday life. We investigated the psychometric properties of ESM items developed to assess momentary prolonged grief symptoms in daily life (ESM-PGD). Additionally, we aimed to create a valid brief scale for future ESM studies. Bereaved adults (N = 169) whose loved ones died 3–6 months earlier completed 11 ESM-PGD items based on 10 PGD symptoms, as defined in DSM-5-TR, five times a day for 14 consecutive days at semi-random intervals. We performed multilevel confirmatory factor analysis (MCFA), calculated root-mean-square of successive differences (RMSSD) and intraclass correlations (ICC), and conducted correlational analyses of ESM-PGD items with related mental health symptoms (e.g., depression) to identify the best-performing items. MCFA confirmed that the hypothesized one-factor model fits the data well with good composite reliability at the between- and within-person levels. All ESM-PGD items were able to distinguish between people with and without early PGD. Examination of within-person level factor loadings, ICCs and RMSSDs revealed that not all ESM-PGD items were able to capture fluctuations of momentary PGD symptoms. The best-performing items were selected, resulting in a valid 2-item Prolonged Grief Symptoms – Short Ecological Assessment (PGS-SEA) scale for assessing PGD in daily life to facilitate ESM-research on PGD. •We evaluated the psychometric properties of 11 ESM items developed to assess PGD.•Sadness and yearning items performed best across multiple indices.•These items formed the PGS-SEA, a scale assessing PGD symptoms in daily life.

Tailings, or flotation waste, formed during copper production may be considered in the class of valuable wastes because of the amount of copper they contain. With the decreasing grade values of copper ores, the utilization of wastes like tailings that carry certain amounts of copper as secondary sources has become a necessity in both the economic and environmental senses. This study was carried out with the aim of using ammonium derivatives for the recovery of copper from tailings waste produced during copper production and utilizing their complex formation characteristics. In the conditions of six hours of leaching at 30 °C in the presence of 22.5 percent ammonium hydroxide and 100 g/L ammonium persulfate, 91.47 percent of the copper was transferred into the solution, while iron was not transferred, indicating that copper can be selectively recovered from tailings.

(formerly ) is a critical-priority multidrug-resistant pathogen. Comparative clinical data on first-line echinocandins-micafungin and anidulafungin-in candidemia remain limited. This retrospective cohort study compared clinical outcomes of micafungin and anidulafungin in adult patients with candidemia treated between January 2024 and December 2025 at three affiliated hospital campuses in Istanbul, Türkiye. Propensity score matching (PSM) using a 1:1 nearest-neighbor algorithm was performed to balance baseline characteristics. Outcomes included 30-day (primary) and 14-day all-cause mortality, microbiological response, end-of-therapy (EOT) response, relapse, and drug-induced liver injury assessed by the Roussel Uclaf Causality Assessment Method (RUCAM). Among 154 included patients (micafungin, n = 94; anidulafungin, n = 60), no echinocandin resistance was detected. After PSM (55 matched pairs), 30-day all-cause mortality was identical between groups (41.8% vs. 41.8%; mOR 1.00, 95% CI 0.43-2.31; = 1.000). Fourteen-day all-cause mortality (16.4% vs. 18.2%; = 0.763), microbiological response (94.5% vs. 90.9%; = 0.480), EOT response (74.5% vs. 67.3%; = 0.346), and relapse (12.7% vs. 10.9%; = 0.763) did not differ significantly between groups. RUCAM-based hepatic safety profiles were descriptively comparable. Micafungin and anidulafungin showed comparable observed outcomes in candidemia in this cohort.

The recent increase in the number of rare yeasts isolated from clinical specimens is a cause for concern, requiring accurate identification of these yeasts and assessment of their antifungal susceptibility to guide treatment. In this regard, we identified 196 rare yeasts isolated from various clinical specimens, mostly urine and respiratory tract specimens of patients hospitalized in intensive care unit and wards, using MALDI-TOF MS, and assessed their susceptibility to amphotericin B, fluconazole, voriconazole, posaconazole, itraconazole, isavuconazole and anidulafungin using the EUCAST broth microdilution method. Among the rare yeast species we isolated, Candida lusitaniae (13.8%) was the most common, followed by Magnusiomyces capitatus (13.3%), Candida fabianii (12.2%), and Trichosporon asahii (11.7%). Antifungal susceptibility testing revealed high echinocandin MIC values against Magnusiomyces spp., Trichosporon spp., and Rhodotorula mucilaginosa isolates. Similarly, we found high MIC values for fluconazole against the isolates of Magnusiomyces spp., T. asahii, R. mucilaginosa, and several Candida spp., including Candida guilliermondii, Candida pararugosa, Candida rugosa, Candida pelliculosa, Candida norvegensis, and Candida fabianii. We found similar MIC values across phylogenetically closely related species. In conclusion, prompt identification of rare yeasts and assessment of their antifungal susceptibilities are essential for effective treatment of the infections they cause.

The addition of NaCl in the ammonium persulfate-APS (as an oxidant) leaching was investigated. APS has some advantages compared with conventional oxidants and its standard redox potential (E°) is 2.0 V. Effect of six parameters such as NaCl concentration, APS concentration, temperature, time, liquid–solid ration (L/S), and stirring speed on the leaching behavior was studied. Results showed that metals extraction increased with increasing of NaCl concentration, APS concentration, leaching temperature (up to 333 K), and L/S ratio. During oxidative leaching of sulfide minerals, the occurrence of elemental sulfur layer on particle surface is known as primary problem that causes low metal extraction. According to the results, the passivation effect of sulfur layer and low dissolution problems can be eliminated in the presence of chloride ions. Copper and iron extraction yields were obtained as 75% and 80%, respectively under leaching conditions as follows: APS concentration 250 g/L; NaCl concentration 150 g/L; time 180 min; temperature 333 K; stirring speed 400 r/min; and L/S 250 mL/g.

Food packaging is critical for ensuring food safety, quality, and shelf life. However, growing environmental concerns with conventional plastics drive the search for sustainable alternatives. A major challenge is that many biobased and biodegradable materials show poor barrier properties, limiting their use for food. This study provides a proof-of-concept for classifying sustainable packaging materials by clustering oxygen transmission rate (OTR) and water vapor transmission rate (WVTR) data. A dataset from 49 studies (2000 to 2016) was analyzed using K-Means, Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM), and Density-Based Spatial Clustering of Applications with Noise (DBSCAN). DBSCAN emerged as best performing algorithm, achieving the highest Silhouette Score (0.910) and lowest Davies-Bouldin Index (0.374). Results validated that while many sustainable films exhibit high permeability, nanocomposites achieved improved barrier performance. This data-driven framework demonstrates clustering as a tool for systematic grouping of packaging materials, with future work requiring broader datasets, industrial benchmarks, and standardized reporting for practical application.

The leaching behavior of a copper flotation concentrate was investigated using ammonium persulfate （APS） in an autoclave systee. The decomposition products of APS, active oxygen, and acidic medium were used to extract metals from the concentrate. Leaching experiments were performed to compare the availability of APS as an oxidizing agent for leaching of the concentrate under atmospheric conditions and in an autoclave system. Leaching temperature and APS concentration were found to be important parameters in both leaching systems. Atmospheric leaching studies showed that the metal extractions increased with the increase in APS concentration and temperature （up to 333 K）. A similar tendency was determined in the autoclave studies up to 423 K. It was also determined that the metal extractions decreased at temperatures above 423 K due to the passivation of the particle surface by molten elemental sulfur. The results showed that higher copper extractions could be achieved using an autoclave system.