The Self 2.0: How AI-Enhanced Self-Clones Transform Self-Perception and Improve Presentation Skills

This study explores the impact of AI-generated digital self-clones on improving online presentation skills. We carried out a mixed-design experiment involving 44 international students, comparing self-recorded videos (control) with self-clone videos (AI group) for English presentation practice. The AI videos utilized voice cloning, face swapping, lip-sync, and body-language simulation to refine participants' original presentations in terms of repetition, filler words, and pronunciation. Machine-rated scores indicated enhancements in speech performance for both groups. Though the groups didn't significantly differ, the AI group exhibited a heightened depth of reflection, self-compassion, and a meaningful transition from a corrective to an enhancive approach to self-critique. Within the AI group, congruence between self-perception and AI self-clones resulted in diminished speech anxiety and increased enjoyment. Our findings recommend the ethical employment of digital self-clones to enhance the emotional and cognitive facets of skill development.Comment: 25 page

Synergizing Human-AI Agency: A Guide of 23 Heuristics for Service Co-Creation with LLM-Based Agents

This empirical study serves as a primer for interested service providers to determine if and how Large Language Models (LLMs) technology will be integrated for their practitioners and the broader community. We investigate the mutual learning journey of non-AI experts and AI through CoAGent, a service co-creation tool with LLM-based agents. Engaging in a three-stage participatory design processes, we work with with 23 domain experts from public libraries across the U.S., uncovering their fundamental challenges of integrating AI into human workflows. Our findings provide 23 actionable "heuristics for service co-creation with AI", highlighting the nuanced shared responsibilities between humans and AI. We further exemplar 9 foundational agency aspects for AI, emphasizing essentials like ownership, fair treatment, and freedom of expression. Our innovative approach enriches the participatory design model by incorporating AI as crucial stakeholders and utilizing AI-AI interaction to identify blind spots. Collectively, these insights pave the way for synergistic and ethical human-AI co-creation in service contexts, preparing for workforce ecosystems where AI coexists.Comment: V1.0 on Oct 25th, 202

Piezoelectric modulation of nonlinear optical response in BaTiO3 thin film

We study the nonlinear optical response in a strained thin film ferroelectric oxide BaTiO3 using piezoelectric Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3-PbTiO3 (001) as a variable strain substrate and La-doped SrTiO3 as a conductive buffer layer. The rotation-anisotropic second harmonic intensity profile shows hysteretic modulation corresponding to the strain variation from the inverse piezoelectric response of the substrate. An enhancement of 15% is observed at 1.2 kV/cm, while a control sample shows negligible change as a function of piezovoltage. Reflection high-energy electron diffraction, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and high-resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy reveal the epitaxial interface. X-ray diffraction and piezoresponse force microscopy confirm tetragonal distortion and ferroelectricity of the BaTiO3 overlayer. Our results suggest a promising route to enhance the performance of nonlinear optical oxides for the development of future nano-opto-mechanical devices

Anion-induced robust ferroelectricity in sulfurized pseudo-rhombohedral epitaxial BiFeO3 thin films via polarization rotation

Polarization rotation caused by various strains, such as substrate and/or chemical strain, is essential to control the electronic structure and properties of ferroelectric materials. This study proposes anion-induced polarization rotation with chemical strain, which effectively improves ferroelectricity. A method for the sulfurization of BiFeO3 thin films by introducing sulfur anions is presented. The sulfurized films exhibited substantial enhancement in room-temperature ferroelectric polarization through polarization rotation and distortion, with a 170% increase in the remnant polarization from 58 to 100.7 μC cm−2. According to first-principles calculations and the results of X-ray absorption spectroscopy and high-angle annular dark-field scanning transmission electron microscopy, this enhancement arose from the introduction of S atoms driving the re-distribution of the lone-pair electrons of Bi, resulting in the rotation of the polarization state from the [001] direction to the [110] or [111] one. The presented method of anion-driven polarization rotation might enable the improvement of the properties of oxide materials.This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2018YFA0703700, 2017YFE0119700, 2021YFA1400300 and 2018YFA0305700), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21801013, 51774034, 22271309, 11721404, 11934017, 12261131499, and 51961135107), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (FRF-IDRY-19-007 and FRF-TP-19-055A2Z), the National Program for Support of Top-notch Young Professionals, the Young Elite Scientists Sponsorship Program by CAST (2019-2021QNRC), the Beijing Natural Science Foundation (Z200007), and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDB33000000). This research used the resources of the Beijing Synchrotron Radiation Facility (1W1A and 4B9B beamlines) of the Chinese Academy of Science.Peer reviewe

Self-Assembly of Giant Amphiphiles Based on Polymer-Tethered Nanoparticle in Selective Solvents

We study the self-assembly and formation process of vesicles of giant molecular shape amphiphiles in a selective solvent using the Brownian dynamics approach. Each amphiphile is composed of one hydrophilic nanoparticle tethered with one to five hydrophobic polymer tail(s), and the number of coarse-grained beads in each polymer tail is comparable to the number of repeating units in shape amphiphile used in the experiments. The effects of various parameters, such as the number of polymer tails, the length of each tail, the concentration of amphiphile beads, the size of the nanoparticle, and the temperature of the system on the self-assembled aggregate morphologies, are investigated. Morphological phase diagrams are constructed in different parameter spaces, and multiple morphological transitions are predicted and explained based on packing parameter. The formation pathways of vesicles are examined systematically, and mechanism II is identified for the first time in such shape amphiphilic systems. Transition between mechanism I and mechanism II can occur by varying several parameters, and principles controlling the different pathways are elucidated. The simulation results are compared with available experimental and simulation results of related systems

Analysis of High-Risk Extramedullary Relapse Factors in Newly Diagnosed MM Patients

Extramedullary relapse of multiple myeloma (MM) is often resistant to existing treatments, and has an extremely poor prognosis, but our understanding of extramedullary relapse is still limited. The incidence, clinical characteristics, impact on the prognosis of extramedullary relapse, and the risk factors for extramedullary relapse in NDMM patients were analyzed. Among the 471 NDMM patients, a total of 267 patients had disease relapse during follow-up, including 64 (24.0%) patients with extramedullary relapse. Extramedullary relapse was more common in patients with younger age, IgD subtype, elevated LDH, extensive osteolytic lesions, extramedullary involvement, and spleen enlargement at the time of MM diagnosis. Survival analysis showed that extramedullary relapse patients had significantly worse median OS than patients with relapse but without extramedullary involvement (30.8 months vs. 53.6 months, p = 0.012). Multivariate analysis confirmed that elevated LDH (OR = 2.09, p = 0.023), >2 osteolytic lesions (OR = 3.70, p < 0.001), extramedullary involvement (OR = 3.48, p < 0.001) and spleen enlargement (OR = 2.27, p = 0.011) at the time of MM diagnosis were independent risk factors for extramedullary relapse in NDMM patients. Each of the above four factors was assigned a value of 1 to form the extramedullary relapse prediction score, and the 3-year extramedullary relapse rates of patients in the 0–2 and 3–4 score groups were 9.0 % and 76.7 %, respectively. This study suggested that extramedullary relapse was associated with poor clinical characteristics and poor prognosis in NDMM patients. The extramedullary relapse prediction score model composed of LDH, osteolytic lesions, extramedullary involvement and spleen enlargement has a better ability to predict extramedullary relapse than the existing ISS and R-ISS stages

Image_1_High serum IL-17A is associated with bone destruction in newly diagnosed multiple myeloma patients.jpeg

BackgroundMultiple myeloma (MM) is a malignant proliferative disease of the blood system, characterized by the abnormal growth of clonal plasma cells in the bone marrow. The bone marrow microenvironment (BMM) is highly critical in the pathological process of MM. Many studies have shown that serum interleukin-17A (IL-17A) plays a key role in various infectious diseases, autoimmune diseases, and cancers. However, more clinical studies need to be performed to further prove the influence of serum IL-17A levels on multiple myeloma patients.MethodsAmong a total of 357 participants in our institution’s MM cohort, 175 were eligible for the retrospective study. Multivariate regression models adjusted by potential confounding factors, the violin plots, the generalized additive model and smooth curve fittings, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, and Kaplan–Meier (K-M) curve analysis were applied to the research.ResultsA total of 175 patients with newly diagnosed MM were enrolled in this study. The multivariate linear regression analysis showed that serum IL-17A level in MM patients correlated with the degree of bone lesions and fracture incidence (fully adjusted model, pbone lesion fracture ConclusionThis retrospective study found that higher levels of serum IL-17A were independently correlated with higher severity of bone disease and fracture incidence in newly diagnosed MM patients. High serum IL-17A level was related to poor best overall efficacy in the light chain type. High serum IL-17A was also associated with poor PFS and OS in the light chain type and OS in the IgA type subgroup.</p

Table_1_High serum IL-17A is associated with bone destruction in newly diagnosed multiple myeloma patients.xlsx

BackgroundMultiple myeloma (MM) is a malignant proliferative disease of the blood system, characterized by the abnormal growth of clonal plasma cells in the bone marrow. The bone marrow microenvironment (BMM) is highly critical in the pathological process of MM. Many studies have shown that serum interleukin-17A (IL-17A) plays a key role in various infectious diseases, autoimmune diseases, and cancers. However, more clinical studies need to be performed to further prove the influence of serum IL-17A levels on multiple myeloma patients.MethodsAmong a total of 357 participants in our institution’s MM cohort, 175 were eligible for the retrospective study. Multivariate regression models adjusted by potential confounding factors, the violin plots, the generalized additive model and smooth curve fittings, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, and Kaplan–Meier (K-M) curve analysis were applied to the research.ResultsA total of 175 patients with newly diagnosed MM were enrolled in this study. The multivariate linear regression analysis showed that serum IL-17A level in MM patients correlated with the degree of bone lesions and fracture incidence (fully adjusted model, pbone lesion fracture ConclusionThis retrospective study found that higher levels of serum IL-17A were independently correlated with higher severity of bone disease and fracture incidence in newly diagnosed MM patients. High serum IL-17A level was related to poor best overall efficacy in the light chain type. High serum IL-17A was also associated with poor PFS and OS in the light chain type and OS in the IgA type subgroup.</p