Explore the vast range of titles available.

BackgroundEngineering identity reflects students' acceptance and recognition of engineering, which has a great influence on their willingness to enter and stay in the engineering field. Existing studies have shown that curricular and co-curricular practice-oriented experiences may be helpful for developing students’ engineering identity. However, the actual impact of various practice-oriented learning experiences remained to be further examined. This quantitative study aims to explore the impact of three types of practice-oriented learning experiences (capstone experiences, technological innovation and entrepreneurship competitions, and engineering-related internships) in the development of engineering talents' engineering identity. A theoretical framework of engineering identity, which consists of three dimensions, that is, Interest, Performance/Competence and Recognition, was adopted to guide the research.ResultsThrough responses from 160 senior engineering students at a leading research intensive Chinese university, the study explored the relationships between engagement in practice-oriented learning experiences and engineering identity. Senior capstone design was found to be associated positively with students' development of engineering identity and recognition by others. Participating in two or more technological innovation and entrepreneurship competitions associated positively with students' development of engineering identity, performance/competence and recognition. Meanwhile, internships did not show any statistically significant effect on engineering identity. Moreover, by analyzing the potential mediating effect, we found that recognition played a complete intermediary role between senior capstone design and engineering identity. In addition, recognition and performance/competence mediated the relationship between twice or more technological innovation and entrepreneurship competitions and engineering identity.ConclusionsThese findings add to our current understanding about the role of different practice-oriented learning activities on students’ development of engineering identity. These findings point to the importance of learning activities, including technological innovation and entrepreneurship competitions and senior capstone design, on the development of engineering identity. Moreover, the results highlighted the important role of students’ engagement in multiple authentic engineering projects throughout the curriculum and their gaining recognitions through these project experiences. Based on these findings, practical suggestions are proposed to help nurture students’ engineering identity. In addition, future qualitative investigations about the underlying mechanisms are recommended to facilitate the understanding of students’ development of engineering identity.

Superhydrophobic metal−organic framework (MOF)-based sponges have received increasing attention in terms of treating oil−water mixtures. However, highly fluorinated substances, commonly used as modifiers to improve the hydrophobicity of MOFs, have aroused much environmental concern. Developing a green hydrophobic modification is crucial in order to prepare superhydrophobic MOF-sponge composites. Herein, we report the preparation of a porous composite sponge via a polydopamine (PDA)-assisted growth of zeolitic imidazolate frameworks (ZIF-90) and eco-friendly hydrophobic short-chain fluorinated substances (trifluoroethylamine) on a melamine formaldehyde (MF) sponge. The composite sponge (F-ZIF-90@PDA-MF) exhibited superhydrophobicity (water contact angle, 153°) and superoleophilicity (oil contact angle, 0°), which is likely due to the combination of the low surface energy brought on by the grafted CF3 groups, as well as the rough surface structures that were derived from the in situ growth of ZIF-90 nanoparticles. F-ZIF-90@PDA-MF showed an excellent adsorption capacity of 39.4–130.4 g g−1 for the different organic compounds. The adsorbed organic compounds were easily recovered by physical squeezing. Continuous and selective separation for the different oil−water mixtures was realized by employing the composite sponge as an absorbent or a filter. The separation efficiency and flux reached above 99.5% and went up to 7.1 ×105 L m−2 h−1, respectively. The results illustrate that the superhydrophobic and superoleophilic F-ZIF-90@PDA-MF sponge has potential in the field of water−oil separation, especially for the purposes of large-scale oil recovery in a water environment.

Tourism product design and development is anxious with intricate decision-making processes that need to strike a balance between many criteria, goals, and limitations. In today's diversified and ever-changing tourist business, there are substantial sprints in developing and implementing products that appeal to middle-aged and older travellers. In this research, the utilization of fuzzy decision support system (FDSS) is investigated to personalize travel experiences for the elderly based on their unique interests and requirements. The main objective of this study is to reduce the complex tourism business patterns. This study presents a systematic framework for middle-aged and senior tourism products based on the literature on tourism trends, FDSS, and product creation in the tourism industry. This study proposes a middle-aged and elderly tourism product based on fuzzy decision support system (METP–FDSS) that employs fuzzy logic. This approach takes into account cultural sensitivities, accessibility concerns, travel preferences, and demographic data to create tourism experiences that are welcoming and immersive for older tourists. Through the application of fuzzy logic concepts, FDSS provides a flexible and robust decision-making platform that can aid in the development of personalized, inclusive, and immersive tourist experiences for the elderly. Customer happiness, accessibility, and the decision support system's ability to steer product development are all highlighted in the proposed METP–FDSS framework. Research on tourism among the middle-aged and the elderly also benefits from understanding user experience, cost effectiveness, competitive advantage, and social and environmental impact. While navigating the complexity of today's tourism sector, this study recommends using fuzzy logic as a decision support system to provide one-of-a-kind experiences for older and middle-aged tourists.

Integrating information and communication technology (ICT) into STEM education enhances instructional quality and cultivates students’ interdisciplinary problem-solving. STEM teachers’ attitudes—driven by perceived ease of use (PEOU) and perceived usefulness (PU)—are pivotal in ICT adoption, and pre-service training offers a vital opportunity to shape these attitudes. Yet, empirical studies investigating how specific training strategies influence ICT attitudes via PEOU and PU remain scarce. Using a mixed-methods approach combining questionnaires and interviews, the results indicate that pre-service training significantly improved STEM teachers’ attitudes toward ICT-enhanced teaching. Socially interactive strategies (role models and collaboration) enhanced attitudes via PEOU by boosting confidence and reducing technology-related anxiety, cognitive design strategies (reflection and instructional design) operated through PU by emphasizing ICT’s pedagogical value, and experiential feedback strategies (authentic experience and feedback) influenced attitudes through both PEOU and PU, fostering integrated technical and pedagogical development. These findings support an integrated SQD–TAM framework and provide practical guidance for designing pre-service STEM teacher programs to promote sustained ICT adoption in China, and meanwhile highlights the importance of strategically sequencing training to cultivate both technological competence and pedagogical insight among future STEM educators.

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is one of the most common intestinal disorders, with increasing global incidence and prevalence. Numerous therapeutic drugs are available but require intravenous administration and are associated with high toxicity and insufficient patient compliance. Here, an oral liposome that entraps the activatable corticosteroid anti-inflammatory budesonide was developed for efficacious and safe IBD therapy. The prodrug was produced via the ligation of budesonide with linoleic acid linked by a hydrolytic ester bond, which was further constrained into lipid constituents to form colloidal stable nanoliposomes (termed budsomes). Chemical modification with linoleic acid augmented the compatibility and miscibility of the resulting prodrug in lipid bilayers to provide protection from the harsh environment of the gastrointestinal tract, while liposomal nanoformulation enables preferential accumulation to inflamed vasculature. Hence, when delivered orally, budsomes exhibited high stability with low drug release in the stomach in the presence of ultra-acidic pH but released active budesonide after accumulation in inflamed intestinal tissues. Notably, oral administration of budsomes demonstrated favorable anti-colitis effect with only ∼7% mouse body weight loss, whereas at least ∼16% weight loss was observed in other treatment groups. Overall, budsomes exhibited higher therapeutic efficiency than free budesonide treatment and potently induced remission of acute colitis without any adverse side effects. These data suggest a new and reliable approach for improving the efficacy of budesonide. Our in vivo preclinical data demonstrate the safety and increased efficacy of the budsome platform for IBD treatment, further supporting clinical evaluation of this orally efficacious budesonide therapeutic.

Zhao J, Zhu J, Lv X, et al. Onco Targets Ther. 2017;10:5471-5482. The Editor and Publisher of OncoTargets and Therapy wish to retract the published article. Concerns were raised regarding the alleged duplication of images in Figure 3C. Specifically, Figure 3C, DMSO appears to have been duplicated with the same image for Figure 3C, ACNU. The authors responded to our queries and explained that the image duplication in Figure 3 was due to image misplacement during preparation of the figure. The authors were asked to provide original data that would adequately verify the reported findings, however the authors explained that some of the original data had been lost and the remaining data was not satisfactory. The Editor determined that the reported findings were unreliable and requested to retract the article. The authors agreed with this decision. We have been informed in our decision-making by our policy on publishing ethics and integrity and the COPE guidelines on retractions. The retracted article will remain online to maintain the scholarly record, but it will be digitally watermarked on each page as \"Retracted\".

The urgent need for high-quality STEM teachers put forward a high demand for STEM pre-service teacher education, which generates a variety of research. This study aims to systematically review relevant articles using the CiteSpace software to visualize the research trends and research hotspots of STEM pre-service teacher education. 166 articles were selected from the Web of Science core collection database from 2012 to 2021. The results show that the research hotspots mainly include single-discipline pre-service teacher training, the design of STEM pre-service teacher training programs, and the application of modern high technology in education. While the research trends are reflected in the interdisciplinary and integrated training of STEM pre-service teachers, the construction of an evaluation system of STEM pre-service teacher education, and the integration and degree of application of high technology. The results provide an objective research basis for subsequent studies.

Background At present, the treatment of polycythemia vera (PV) and essential thrombocythemia (ET) is still largely supportive and symptomatic. Homoharringtonine (HHT), a valid drug for treating chronic myelogenous leukemia, has shown some effect on leukemic stem cells. The aim of this study was to observe the effect of HHT on patients with high-risk PV and ET. Methods Patients with high-risk PV ( n  = 17) or ET ( n  = 18) who had failed or were intolerant to hydroxycarbamide or interferon-α therapy received HHT at a dose of 1.5 mg/m 2 daily by continuous infusion for 7 days every month. Hematological responses were evaluated at the 6th month after HHT therapy. Results After six courses of HHT therapy, the hematological response rates were 64.7 % (11/17) in PV and 72.2 % (13/18) in ET. In PV, the single sign remission rates of constitutional symptoms, symptomatic splenomegaly, pruritus and bone pain were 70.0 % (7/10), 77.8 % (7/9), 50 % (1/2) and 100 % (3/3), respectively. The remission rates of constitutional symptoms and symptomatic splenomegaly in ET were 66.7 % (6/9) and 71.4 % (5/7), respectively. The rates of grade 1 granulocytopenia and thrombocytopenia were 1.8 and 0.9 %, respectively. No grade 2 or over events, or pancytopenia were observed. Conclusions Low-dose HHT alone has considerable short-term efficacy for high-risk PV/ET and may used as a second-line drug for PV/ET treatment in patients who have failed or were intolerant to hydroxycarbamide or interferon-α therapy.

Solitary fibrous tumor (SFT) of the central nervous system is a rare spindle cell tumor of mesenchymal origin. The present study reports the case of a 44-year-old male patient with SFT. Magnetic resonance imaging demonstrated that the majority of the intracranial tumors exhibited uneven low signals on T1-weighted imaging (T1WI) and low mixed signals on T2WI, and there was an enhancement on enhanced scanning. Furthermore, the distal part of the left occipital lobe exhibited hypersignals on T1WI and T2WI, and this was significantly enhanced following enhanced scanning. The lower part of the scalp exhibited low signals on T1WI and high signals on T2WI, and there was no notable enhancement following enhanced scanning. Magnetic resonance spectroscopy demonstrated an elevated choline/creatine peak in the solid part of the tumor. Under the microscope, the tumor exhibited characteristic 'staghorn-shaped' blood vessels. As SFT is difficult to differentially diagnose via imaging, immunohistochemical analysis of CD34, vimentin and signal transducer and activator of transcription 6 was performed for the definitive diagnosis of SFT. Of note, surgical resection was the preferred treatment for SFT; however, due to the rarity of the tumor, subsequent adjuvant therapy and prognosis require further investigation.

To reveal the bedding effects on the deformation field evolution of coal bodies containing parallel bedding under static loading, the maximum shear strain field of raw coal specimens under vertical bedding loading and parallel bedding loading conditions was observed by the digital scatter correlation method, and the deformation field evolution and deformation localization characteristics of raw coal specimens containing parallel bedding during loading process under two loading conditions were quantitatively analyzed. A damage variable was defined to describe the damage of coal specimens based on the characteristic statistics, and a damage constitutive model was established to reflect the full stress–strain characteristics of coal specimens with parallel bedding. The results show that the strain field of the parallel-bedding-loaded specimens is patchily distributed during the initial compaction stage, whereas the vertical-bedding-loaded specimens form a deformation-concentrated area at the loading end. Before and after the peak strength, the strain field of the vertical-bedding loading specimen changes dramatically, and the specimen shows shear damage, whereas the strain field of the parallel-bedding loading specimen does not have large changes, and the specimen shows splitting damage, with higher crack development and degree of specimen failure. The initiation stress of deformation localization in the vertical bedding specimens is closer to the peak strength, whereas the parallel bedding specimens are more likely to show deformation localization characteristics. The damage constitutive model based on the characteristic statistics can well reflect the stress–strain characteristics of the raw coal specimens under the loading conditions of vertical and parallel bedding.