Beyond the Border: On the Contested Island

Every life is important and fragile, but what human being has done for centuries are destroying the balance between human and nature, threatening the future of every life on the Earth. Nowadays, waters are going out of control, while climates are changing dramatically, international boundaries are thickening, and regional human conflicts are tensing. New architectural forms are needed in order to restore the wounded nature, reconcile the political contests, and restructure the relation between human and non-human. We are designing architecture as an initiative to solve those problems, starting from one site and one marine creature, then extending ecologically, socially, and culturally

Clinical features and “early” corticosteroid treatment outcome of pediatric mycoplasma pneumoniae pneumonia

BackgroundMany children with mycoplasma pneumoniae (MP) pneumonia (MPP) developed sequelae such as bronchiolitis/bronchitis obliterans (BO). Early corticosteroid therapy might prevent disease progression. This study aimed to use “early” corticosteroid and observe the treatment outcome in patients with MPP.MethodsPatients who had pulmonary infiltrations on chest imaging within 5 days of the disease course and were suspected of having MP infection on admission were enrolled. Among them, patients whose disease course was within 10 days on admission were ultimately enrolled. We analyzed their data including the clinical features, the starting time and dose of corticosteroid therapy, and the treatment outcome. According to chest imaging, we divided patients into two groups (Group A: bronchiolitis-associated lesions or ground-glass opacities; Group B: pulmonary segmental/lobar consolidation).ResultsA total of 210 patients with confirmed MPP were ultimately enrolled. There were 59 patients in Group A and 151 patients in Group B. Patients in Group A were more prone to have allergy histories, hypoxemia, wheezing sound, and wet rales on auscultation than those in Group B. Corticosteroid treatment was initiated between 5 and 10 days of disease onset in all patients and 6–7 days in most patients. Methylprednisolone was prescribed in all patients within 10 days of disease onset, and the highest prescribed dose was at least 2 mg/kg/day. In Group A, methylprednisolone >2 mg/kg/day was prescribed in 22 patients, and among them, 8 patients with diffuse bronchiolitis-associated lesions received high-dose methylprednisolone therapy. After 3 months, lung CT revealed slightly segmental ground-glass opacity in three patients. In Group B, methylprednisolone >2 mg/kg/day was prescribed in 76 patients, and among them, 20 patients with pulmonary lobar consolidation received high-dose methylprednisolone therapy. After 3 months, chest imaging revealed incomplete absorption of pulmonary lesions in seven patients. Among them, five patients with consolidation in more than one pulmonary lobe ultimately had slight BO.ConclusionIn hospitalized patients with MPP, particularly severe MPP, the ideal starting time of corticosteroid treatment might be 5–10 days, preferably 6–7 days, after disease onset. The initial dosage of corticosteroid therapy should be decided according to the severity of the disease. MPP patients with diffuse bronchiolitis-associated lesions/whole lobar consolidation on imaging might require high-dose corticosteroid therapy

Exploring Factors of Middle School Teachers’ Satisfaction with Online Training for Sustainable Professional Development under the Impact of COVID-19

During the COVID-19 pandemic, as offline learning activities were blocked, teachers’ training activities were moved from face-to-face to online training. Therefore, teachers had to join an increasing number of online training sessions. However, few studies have focused on teachers’ satisfaction with online training. To address this gap, based on the American user satisfaction theory model (ACSI), this study established the factors of expectation of online training quality, perceived online training quality, perceived online training value, and teacher satisfaction with online learning, and aimed to explore their relationships with six hypotheses. A total of 397 middle school teachers who had online training experience participated in the survey through an online questionnaire. SPSS 26.0 and AMOS 23.0 were used to analyze the data. The results showed that (1) expectation of online training quality was positively correlated with perceived online training quality; (2) expectation of online training quality was negatively correlated with perceived online training value; (3) perceived online training quality was positively correlated with perceived online training value; and (4) perceived online training value was positively correlated with online training satisfaction. The findings imply that teachers should be informed in advance of various difficulties that may be encountered in online training, so as to reduce their expectations of online training quality. In addition, in order to improve teachers’ perceived quality and perceived value of online training, intervention strategies should be proposed, online training platforms should be optimized, and online training methods should be innovated to improve teachers’ sustainable development ability

Integrated optical frequency division for microwave and mmWave generation.

The generation of ultra-low-noise microwave and mmWave in miniaturized, chip-based platforms can transform communication, radar and sensing systems1-3. Optical frequency division that leverages optical references and optical frequency combs has emerged as a powerful technique to generate microwaves with superior spectral purity than any other approaches4-7. Here we demonstrate a miniaturized optical frequency division system that can potentially transfer the approach to a complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor-compatible integrated photonic platform. Phase stability is provided by a large mode volume, planar-waveguide-based optical reference coil cavity8,9 and is divided down from optical to mmWave frequency by using soliton microcombs generated in a waveguide-coupled microresonator10-12. Besides achieving record-low phase noise for integrated photonic mmWave oscillators, these devices can be heterogeneously integrated with semiconductor lasers, amplifiers and photodiodes, holding the potential of large-volume, low-cost manufacturing for fundamental and mass-market applications13

Additional file 1: of Overexpression of synuclein-Îł predicts lack of benefit from radiotherapy for breast cancer patients

Table S1. Prognostic factors of DMFS in univariate analysis of breast cancer patients were or were not treated with radiotherapy. Table S2. Independent predictors of DMFS in multivariate analysis of breast cancer patients were or were not treated with radiotherapy. (DOC 60 kb

Kerr optical frequency division with integrated photonics for stable microwave and mmWave generation

Optical frequency division (OFD) has revolutionized microwave and mmWave generation and set spectral purity records owing to its unique capability to transfer high fractional stability from optical to electronic frequencies. Recently, rapid developments in integrated optical reference cavities and microresonator-based optical frequency combs (microcombs) have created a path to transform OFD technology to chip scale. Here, we demonstrate an ultra-low phase noise mmWave oscillator by leveraging integrated photonic components and Kerr optical frequency division. The oscillator derives its stability from an integrated CMOS-compatible SiN coil cavity, and the optical frequency division is achieved spontaneously through Kerr interaction between the injected reference lasers and soliton microcombs in the integrated SiN microresonator. Besides achieving record-low phase noise for integrated mmWave oscillators, our demonstration greatly simplifies the implementation of integrated OFD oscillators and could be useful in applications of Radar, spectroscopy, and astronomy