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Lightweight magnesium alloys are attractive as structural materials for improving energy efficiency in applications such as weight reduction of transportation vehicles. One major obstacle for widespread applications is the limited ductility of magnesium, which has been attributed to 〈c + a〉 dislocations failing to accommodate plastic strain. We demonstrate, using in situ transmission electron microscope mechanical testing, that 〈c + a〉 dislocations of various characters can accommodate considerable plasticity through gliding on pyramidal planes. We found that submicrometer-size magnesium samples exhibit high plasticity that is far greater than for their bulk counterparts. Small crystal size usually brings high stress, which in turn activates more 〈c + a〉 dislocations in magnesium to accommodate plasticity, leading to both high strength and good plasticity.

Liquid Crystal Displays (LCDs) are indispensable in space science, playing critical roles in spacecraft instrumentation, data visualization, and control systems. Selecting reliable suppliers for LCD equipment is vital to ensuring optimal performance and durability in the challenging conditions of outer space. This paper presents a comprehensive decision-making framework using fuzzy multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) methodologies tailored for aerospace applications. The framework begins with the Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (FAHP) to determine criteria weights such as technical specifications, environmental resistance, quality and reliability, cost and delivery performance, compliance, and certifications. These criteria are crucial for meeting the stringent requirements of space missions and reflect objective metrics and expert opinions. Subsequently, the Complex Proportional Assessment of Alternatives (COPRAS) is applied to rank potential suppliers based on their performance against the weighted criteria. COPRAS allows for a comparative analysis considering positive and negative preferences, ensuring suppliers meet technical specifications and align with strategic mission objectives and constraints. Integrating FAHP and COPRAS enhances supplier selection processes’ transparency, consistency, and objectivity in aerospace procurement. This approach mitigates the risks associated with supplier variability, ensuring continuity in operations critical to space exploration and scientific advancements. The study contributes to advancing decision support systems in aerospace procurement, emphasizing rigorous supplier evaluation methodologies to enhance mission success and reliability in space science applications.

This study aimed to investigate whether tumor-associated lymphatic vessel density (LVD) could predict the survival of patients with hepato-biliary-pancreatic (HBP) cancers after radical resection. A systematic search was conducted using PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Library from the inception to July 31, 2024 for literature that reported the role of LVD in overall survival (OS) and recurrence-free survival (RFS) of patients with HBP cancers after radical resection. Ten studies with 761 patients were included for the meta-analysis. The results indicated that a higher level of LVD was associated with worse OS (hazard ratio, HR = 2.87, 95% CI 1.63 to 5.04) and worse RFS (HR = 3.18, 95% CI 1.41 to 7.17) in HBP cancers. Subgroup analysis based on pathological types revealed that a higher level of LVD was significantly related to worse OS in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) (HR = 2.35, 95% CI 1.16 to 4.78), cholangiocarcinoma (HR = 4.65, 95% CI 1.70 to 12.70), and gallbladder cancer patients (HR = 4.64, 95% CI 1.37 to 15.71). The levels of LVD were not significantly associated with OS in pancreatic adenocarcinoma patients after radical resection (HR = 1.08, 95% CI 0.61 to 1.89). Similarly, a higher level of LVD was significantly associated with worse RFS in HCC (HR = 1.92, 95% CI 1.01 to 3.65) and cholangiocarcinoma patients (HR = 4.54, 95% CI 2.10 to 9.83). A higher level of LVD was a biomarker for the prediction of worse OS and RFS in patients with hepatobiliary cancers after radical resection. https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/, identifier CRD42024571167.

Device-independent quantum secure direct communication (DI-QSDC) can relax the security assumptions about the devices’ internal working, and effectively enhance QSDC’s security. In this paper, we put forward the first hyperentanglement-based one-step DI-QSDC protocol. In this protocol, the communication parties adopt the nonlocal hyperentanglement-assisted complete Bell state analysis, which enables the photons to transmit in the quantum channel for only one round. The one-step DI-QSDC can directly transmit 2 bits of messages by a hyperentangled photon pair, and is unconditionally secure in theory. Compared with the original DI-QSDC protocol (Sci. Bull. 65, 12 (2020)), the one-step DI-QSDC protocol can simplify the experiment and reduce the message loss. In particular, with the help of the hyperentanglement heralded amplification and the hyperentanglement purification, the message loss and the message error caused by the channel noise can be completely eliminated, and the communication distance can be largely extended. By using the photon source with a repetition rate of 10 GHz, the one-step DI-QSDC’s secret message capacity under 50 km communication distance achieves about 7 bit/s with the initial fidelity in each degree of freedom of 0.8. Combined with the quantum repeater, it is possible for researchers to realize the one-step DI-QSDC with an arbitrarily long distance.

Catalytic difunctionalization of alkenes has been an ideal strategy to generate structurally complex molecules with diverse substitution patterns. Although both phosphonyl and carboxyl groups are valuable functional groups, the simultaneous incorporation of them via catalytic difunctionalization of alkenes, ideally from abundant, inexpensive and easy-to-handle raw materials, has not been realized. Herein, we report the phosphonocarboxylation of alkenes with CO 2 via visible-light photoredox catalysis. This strategy is sustainable, general and practical, providing facile access to important β-phosphono carboxylic acids, including structurally complex unnatural α-amino acids. Diverse alkenes, including enamides, styrenes, enolsilanes and acrylates, undergo such reactions efficiently under mild reaction conditions. Moreover, this method represents a rare example of redox-neutral difunctionalization of alkenes with H-P(O) compounds, including diaryl- and dialkyl- phosphine oxides and phosphites. Importantly, these transition-metal-free reactions also feature low catalyst loading, high regio- and chemo-selectivities, good functional group tolerance, easy scalability and potential for product derivatization. Phosphonyl and carboxyl groups are valuable functional groups, however their simultaneous incorporation via catalytic difunctionalization of alkenes has not been realized yet. Here the authors report the phosphonocarboxylation of alkenes with CO 2 via visible-light photoredox catalysis.

Non-methane volatile organic compounds (NMVOCs) are important ozone and secondary organic aerosol precursors and play important roles in tropospheric chemistry. In this work, we estimated the total and speciated NMVOC emissions from China's anthropogenic sources during 1990–2017 by using a bottom-up emission inventory framework and investigated the main drivers behind the trends. We found that anthropogenic NMVOC emissions in China have been increasing continuously since 1990 due to the dramatic growth in activity rates and absence of effective control measures. We estimated that anthropogenic NMVOC emissions in China increased from 9.76 Tg in 1990 to 28.5 Tg in 2017, mainly driven by the persistent growth from the industry sector and solvent use. Meanwhile, emissions from the residential and transportation sectors declined after 2005, partly offsetting the total emission increase. During 1990–2017, mass-based emissions of alkanes, alkenes, alkynes, aromatics, oxygenated volatile organic compounds (OVOCs) and other species increased by 274 %, 88 %, 4 %, 387 %, 91 % and 231 %, respectively. Following the growth in total NMVOC emissions, the corresponding ozone formation potential (OFP) increased from 38.2 Tg of O3 in 1990 to 99.7 Tg of O3 in 2017. We estimated that aromatics accounted for the largest share (43 %) of the total OFP, followed by alkenes (37 %) and OVOCs (10 %). Growth in China's NMVOC emissions was mainly driven by the transportation sector before 2000, while industry and solvent use dominated the emission growth during 2000–2010. Since 2010, although emissions from the industry sector and solvent use kept growing, strict control measures on transportation and fuel transition in residential stoves have successfully slowed down the increasing trend, especially after the implementation of China's clean air action since 2013. However, compared to large emission decreases in other major air pollutants in China (e.g., SO2, NOx and primary PM) during 2013–2017, the relatively flat trend in NMVOC emissions and OFP revealed the absence of effective control measures, which might have contributed to the increase in ozone during the same period. Given their high contributions to emissions and OFP, tailored control measures for solvent use and industrial sources should be developed, and multi-pollutant control strategies should be designed to mitigate both PM2.5 and ozone pollution simultaneously.

To explore whether tumor-associated lymphatic vessel density (LVD) could be a biomarker for the prognosis of patients with esophageal cancer after radical resection. A systematic literature search was performed through PubMed, EMBASE, Wanfang Data, and Cochrane Library from the inception of databases until March 19, 2024. The selected studies investigated overall survival (OS) and/or recurrence-free survival (RFS) of patients with esophageal cancer with different levels of LVD after radical resection. The OS and RFS data were pooled as hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidential interval (CI). Furthermore, the standardized mean differences (SMDs) and 95% CI were aggregated to evaluate the correlation between LVD and clinicopathological features. A total of 10 retrospective studies of 1,201 patients were finally included for the meta-analysis. Patients with esophageal cancer with a high level of LVD exhibited worse OS (HR 1.65, 95% CI 1.18 to 2.31) and RFS (HR 1.57, 95% CI 1.09 to 2.26) than those with a low level of LVD. Subgroup analysis of different pathological subtypes revealed that patients with esophageal adenocarcinoma with a high level of LVD had significantly worse RFS (HR 2.84, 95% CI 1.61 to 5.02) than those with a low level of LVD; while patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma with a high level of LVD had similar OS (HR 1.52, 95% CI 0.93 to 2.47) and RFS (HR 1.03, 95% CI 0.72 to 1.48) to those with a low level of LVD. Furthermore, tumors with lymph node metastasis had significantly higher levels of LVD than those without lymph node metastasis (SMD = 1.11, 95% CI 0.54 to 1.67). Tumors at the stages III-IV had significantly higher levels of LVD than those at the stages I-II (SMD = 1.62, 95% CI 0.90 to 2.34). A high level of LVD in tumor was associated with worse survival of patients with esophageal cancer after radical resection, especially in patients with esophageal adenocarcinoma. Tumor-associated LVD is a new parameter that should be measured in postoperative pathology for predicting the prognosis of patients with esophageal cancer. https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/ PROSPERO, identifier CRD42024553766.

The growing contribution of artificial intelligence into several domains, including environmental sustainability and informational energy, has gained dramatic attention from several stakeholders. This research investigates the impact of artificial intelligence, information and communication technologies (ICTs), and technological innovations on information energy systems, with respect to environmental sustainability and economic growth of China. Data was collected during 2001-2020 with yearly observations. The study applied the Methods of Moments Quantile Regression (MMQR) to examine the quantile varying trend of information energy as determined by the stated variables. The results through the MMQR estimator show that artificial intelligence boosts information energy from the 0.25th to 0.90th Quantile, where the highest effect is observed at the 0.75th Quantile. The results also show a positive connection between ICT and information energy across all the quantiles. Moreover, technological innovations positively impact the information energy from 0.75th to 0.90th Quantile. Conversely, environmental sustainability hinders such energy production across all the quantiles. Finally, our findings confirm the productive effect of economic growth in determining an increasing trend of information energy. The study provides several policy suggestions while considering all of the given variables. Besides, the limitations are also highlighted by the end of this research to demonstrate the directions for future studies.

Magnesium, the lightest structural metal, usually exhibits limited ambient plasticity when compressed along its crystallographic c -axis (the “hard” orientation of magnesium). Here we report large plasticity in c -axis compression of submicron magnesium single crystal achieved by a dual-stage deformation. We show that when the plastic flow gradually strain-hardens the magnesium crystal to gigapascal level, at which point dislocation mediated plasticity is nearly exhausted, the sample instantly pancakes without fracture, accompanying a conversion of the initial single crystal into multiple grains that roughly share a common rotation axis. Atomic-scale characterization, crystallographic analyses and molecular dynamics simulations indicate that the new grains can form via transformation of pyramidal to basal planes. We categorize this grain formation as “deformation graining”. The formation of new grains rejuvenates massive dislocation slip and deformation twinning to enable large plastic strains. Understanding deformation of Mg along the c-axis is important for wrought processing of Mg. Here the authors report deformation graining in submicron single crystal Mg where the initial single crystal evolves into ultrafine grains that rejuvenates dislocation activities, enabling large plasticity.

Blind quantum computation (BQC) provides an efficient method for the client who does not have enough sophisticated technology and knowledge to perform universal quantum computation. The single-server BQC protocol requires the client to have some minimum quantum ability, while the double-server BQC protocol makes the client's device completely classical, resorting to the pure and clean Bell state shared by two servers. Here, we provide a deterministic entanglement distillation protocol in a practical noisy environment for the double-server BQC protocol. This protocol can get the pure maximally entangled Bell state. The success probability can reach 100% in principle. The distilled maximally entangled states can be remaind to perform the BQC protocol subsequently. The parties who perform the distillation protocol do not need to exchange the classical information and they learn nothing from the client. It makes this protocol unconditionally secure and suitable for the future BQC protocol.