Direct Transport Research Articles

Photocarrier relay modulating solar CO2-to-syngas conversion

Solar-driven syngas generation by CO2 reduction provides a sustainable strategy to produce renewable fossil fuels. Nevertheless, this promising approach often suffers from tough CO2 activation, sluggish reaction kinetics and complex selectivity. Herein, we exquisitely constructed spatially directional charge transport channel over two-dimensional transition metal chalcogenide (TMC)-based heterostructure via a facile and universal electrostatic self-assembly method. Tailor-made positively charged non-conjugated insulating polymer of poly(diallyl-dimethyl-ammonium chloride) (PDDA) and negatively charged graphene oxide (GO) precursor as building blocks are controllably anchored on the TMC substrate, by which ultrathin PDDA layer is intercalated at the interface of GO and TMC. We ascertain that, in this customized sandwiched heterostructures, PDDA interim layer functions as an electron-relaying mediator, whilst graphene (GR) obtained from in-situ GO reduction during the photocatalytic reaction serves as a terminal electron-trapping reservoir, synergistically facilitating the spatially vectorial charge separation/migration over TMC, thus endowing the TMC/PDDA/GR heterostructures with conspicuously enhanced visible-light-driven photoactivity toward CO2-to-syngas conversion. Our work would inspire judicious ideas for finely modulating charge transfer over polymer-mediated photosystems and benefit our fundamental understanding of solar CO2 conversion.

Short-time asymmetric droplet coalescence dynamics on a pre-wetted fiber

This study presents an unprecedented directional transport phenomenon during the coalescence of two droplets on a pre-wetted cylindrical fiber, where the larger droplet is pulled toward the smaller one. The magnitude of this effect often exceeds the gravitational pull, enabling coalescing droplets to climb up a vertical fiber. This occurs primarily because the viscous friction that the droplets experience is negatively correlated with the droplet size. We present a scaling relation and a mass-spring-damper model to explain the phenomenon, which shows good agreement with the experimental results. This research reveals an intriguing aspect of the coalescence dynamics of droplets on a pre-wetted fiber, offering a fresh perspective on the interfacial phenomena in droplet–fiber systems.

Optogenetic control of kinesin-1, -2, -3 and dynein reveals their specific roles in vesicular transport

Each cargo in a cell employs a unique set of motor proteins for its transport. To dissect the roles of each type of motor, we developed optogenetic inhibitors of endogenous kinesin-1, -2, -3 and dynein motors and examined their effect on the transport of early endosomes, late endosomes, and lysosomes. While kinesin-1, -3, and dynein transport vesicles at all stages of endocytosis, kinesin-2 primarily drives late endosomes and lysosomes. Transient optogenetic inhibition of kinesin-1 or dynein causes both early and late endosomes to move more processively by relieving competition with opposing motors. Kinesin-2 and -3 support long-range transport, and optogenetic inhibition reduces the distances that their cargoes move. These results suggest that the directionality of transport is controlled through regulating kinesin-1 and dynein activity. On vesicles transported by several kinesin and dynein motors, modulating the activity of a single type of motor on the cargo is sufficient to direct motility.

The RACE Scale for Large Vessel Stroke Diversion to a Comprehensive Stroke Center by Helicopter Air Ambulance: A Retrospective Cohort Study

ObjectiveAcute ischemic stroke caused by large vessel occlusion (LVO) occurs frequently and benefits from endovascular therapies available at comprehensive stroke centers (CSCs). Prehospital stroke severity tools have been devised to detect LVO. The goal of this study was to assess the value of the Rapid Arterial Occlusion Evaluation (RACE) score in helicopter air ambulance (HAA) activation. MethodsA retrospective assessment of RACE scales > 4 performed by prehospital providers was used in order to activate HAAs. Descriptive statistics were obtained for patients transported, with the primary goal of determining the positive predictive values of the RACE scale for LVO occlusions. The secondary outcomes assessed if patients without LVO had other conditions requiring a CSC. ResultsData from 136 subjects were analyzed; 53 (39.0%) were true LVO cases as defined by computed tomographic imaging, computed tomography angiographic imaging, or magnetic resonance imaging. Mechanical thrombectomy occurred in 30 cases (22.1%), with 63 (46.4%) requiring a neurologic intervention. There were 83 (61%) false positives (no LVO on imaging). Of these false positives, 28 (20.6%) were non-LVO strokes, 22 (16.1%) were intracranial hemorrhages, and 8 (5.9%) had neurologic conditions requiring CSC care. ConclusionA RACE scale > 4 is an effective triage tool that delivers potential thrombectomy candidates to CSCs. When there is a false positive, the majority of patients require CSC care and benefit from direct transport from the scene.

Numerical investigation of grain size effect on velocity-skewed oscillatory sheet flow

Wave-induced sheet flow leads to intense sediment transport. Fine sand and medium/coarse sand exhibit opposite directions of net sediment transport under velocity-skewed oscillatory sheet flows. A newly developed two-phase mixture model is employed to simulate the sediment transport under these conditions. The model accounts for particle stress, two-phase momentum exchange, and turbulence modulation. The effects of grain size on flow characteristics and sediment transport are primarily investigated. The model effectively reproduces the spatial and temporal distributions of two-phase velocities and sediment concentration as well as the periodic distribution of erosion depth. Comparisons between configurations with medium and fine sand demonstrate that the grain size impacts sediment transport in two main ways. First, the grain size influences the periodic variations in erosion depth and the quantity of suspended sediment. A decrease in the grain size increases the phase residual and phase lag, enhancing offshore sediment transport. Second, suspended sediments modulate the flow dynamics within the oscillatory boundary layer. Through the mobile bed effect and density stratification, the grain size affects two-phase velocities, turbulence, and net sediment transport.

Multifunctional Janus Membrane for Diabetic Wound Healing and Intelligent Monitoring.

The complex microenvironment of diabetic wounds often hinders the healing process, ultimately leading to the formation of diabetic foot ulcers and even death. Dual monitoring and treatment of wounds can significantly reduce the incidence of such cases. Herein, a multifunctional Janus membrane (3D chitosan sponge-ZE/polycaprolactone nanofibers-ZP) was developed by incorporating the zinc metal-organic framework, europium metal-organic framework, and phenol red into nanofibers for diabetic wound monitoring and treatment. The directional water transport capacity of the resulting Janus membrane allows for unidirectional and irreversible drainage of wound exudate, and the multifunctional Janus membrane creates up to a 99% antibacterial environment, both of which can treat wounds. Moreover, the pH (5-8) and H2O2 (0.00-0.80 μM) levels of the wound can be monitored using the color-changing property of phenol red and the fluorescence characteristic of Eu-MOF on the obtained membrane, respectively. The healing stages of the wound can also be monitored by analyzing the RGB values of the targeted membrane images. This design can more accurately reflect the wound state and treat the wound to reduce bacterial infection and accelerate wound healing, which has been demonstrated in in vivo experiments. The results provide an important basis for early intervention in diabetic patients.

Leaderless consensus decision-making determines cooperative transport direction in weaver ants.

Animal groups need to achieve and maintain consensus to minimize conflict among individuals and prevent group fragmentation. An excellent example of a consensus challenge is cooperative transport, where multiple individuals cooperate to move a large item together. This behaviour, regularly displayed by ants and humans only, requires individuals to agree on which direction to move in. Unlike humans, ants cannot use verbal communication but most likely rely on private information and/or mechanical forces sensed through the carried item to coordinate their behaviour. Here, we investigated how groups of weaver ants achieve consensus during cooperative transport using a tethered-object protocol, where ants had to transport a prey item that was tethered in place with a thin string. This protocol allows the decoupling of the movement of informed ants from that of uninformed individuals. We showed that weaver ants pool together the opinions of all group members to increase their navigational accuracy. We confirmed this result using a symmetry-breaking task, in which we challenged ants with navigating an open-ended corridor. Weaver ants are the first reported ant species to use a 'wisdom-of-the-crowd' strategy for cooperative transport, demonstrating that consensus mechanisms may differ according to the ecology of each species.

Photo-Driven Ion Directional Transport across Artificial Ion Channels: Band Engineering of WS2 via Peptide Modification.

Biological photo-responsive ion channels play important roles in the important metabolic processes of living beings. To mimic the unique functions of biological prototypes, the transition metal dichalcogenides, owing to their excellent mechanical, electrical, and optical properties, are already used for artificial intelligent channel constructions. However, there remain challenges to building artificial bio-semiconductor nanochannels with finely tuned band gaps for accurately simulating or regulating ion transport. Here, two well-designed peptides are employed for the WS2 nanosheets functionalization with the sequences of PFPFPFPFC and DFDFDFDFC (PFC and DFC; P: proline, D: aspartate, and F: phenylalanine) through cysteine (Cys, C) linker, and an asymmetric peptide-WS2 membrane (AP-WS2M) could be obtained via self-assembly of peptide-WS2 nanosheets. The AP-WS2M could realize the photo-driven anti-gradient ion transport and vis-light enhanced osmotic energy conversion by well-designed working patterns. The photo-driven ion transport mechanism stems from a built-in photovoltaic motive force with the help of formed type II band alignment between the PFC-WS2 and DFC-WS2. As a result, the ions would be driven across the channels of the membrane for different applications. The proposed system provides an effective solution for building photo-driven biomimetic 2D bio-semiconductor ion channels, which could be extensively applied in the fields of drug delivery, desalination, and energy conversion.

Directionality of gravitational and thermal diffusive transport in geologic fluid storage.

Diffusive transport has implications for the long-term status of underground storage of hydrogen (H_{2}) fuel and carbon dioxide (CO_{2}), technologies which are being pursued to mitigate climate change and advance the energy transition. Once injected underground, CO_{2} and H_{2} will exist in multiphase fluid-water-rock systems. The partially soluble injected fluids can flow through the porous rock in a connected plume, become disconnected and trapped as ganglia surrounded by groundwater within the storage rock pore space, and also dissolve and migrate through the aqueous phase once dissolved. Recent analyses have focused on the concentration gradients induced by differing capillary pressure between fluid ganglia which can drive diffusive transport ("Ostwald ripening"). However, studies have neglected or excessively simplified important factors, namely the nonideality of gases under geologic conditions, the opposing equilibrium state of dissolved CO_{2} and H_{2} driven by the partial molar density of dissolved solutes, and entropic and thermodiffusive effects resulting from geothermal gradients. We conduct an analysis from thermodynamic first principles and use this to provide numerical estimates for CO_{2} and H_{2} at conditions relevant to underground storage reservoirs. We show that while diffusive transport in isothermal systems is upwards for both gases, as indicated by previous analysis, entropic contributions to the free energy are so significant as to cause a reversal in the direction of diffusive transport in systems with geothermal gradients. For CO_{2}, even geothermal gradients less than 10^{∘}C/km (far less than typical gradients of 25^{∘}C/km) are sufficient to induce downwards diffusion at depths relevant to storage. Diffusive transport of H_{2} is less affected but still reverses direction under typical gradients, e.g., 30^{∘}C/km, at a depth of 1000m. This reversal occurs independent of the solute's thermophobicity or thermophilicity in aqueous solutions. The entropic contribution also modifies the magnitude of flux where geothermal gradients are present, with the largest diffusive fluxes estimated for CO_{2} with a 30^{∘}C/km gradient, despite the higher diffusion coefficient of H_{2}. We find a maximum flux on the order of 10^{-13} mol/(cm^{2}s) for CO_{2} in the 30^{∘}C/km scenario; significantly lower than literature estimates for maximum convective fluxes in moderate to high permeability formations. Contrary to previous studies, we find that in diffusion and convection will likely work in concert-both driving CO_{2} downwards, and both driving H_{2} upwards-for conditions representative of their respective storage reservoirs.

Architecture and dynamics of Precambrian linear megadunes: Galho do Miguel Formation, Mesoproterozoic, South-East Brazil

Recognizing the deposits of linear megadunes in ancient aeolian successions is challenging when the original bedform topography is not preserved. The present study provides a detailed analysis of the depositional architecture of an ∼ 80 m-thick interval of the Mesoproterozoic Galho do Miguel Formation (SE Brazil) to reconstruct the original morphologies of linear megadunes and to understand their dynamics. The depositional architecture reveals compound cross-bedded sets, which transition laterally into thick low-angle cross-stratified sets and planar-parallel sandstone beds. The depositional features indicate the presence of complex megadunes separated by adjoining wide dry inter-megadune areas, which were themselves flooded seasonally by a water table that rose above the depositional surface. Linear megadunes experienced two phases of development: vertical accretion and subsequent episode of lateral migration. During the vertical accretion phase, high sediment supply, typical of Precambrian aeolian systems, and the convergence of winds from two distinct directions promoted high rates of megadune growth, bedform elongation, and the formation of superimposed dunes. The lateral migration phase was characterised by a component of lateral bedform shift relative to the main along-crest sediment transport direction; this prevented preservation of a bimodal pattern of dune cross-strata azimuths. The accumulation of these deposits occurred via a combination of megadune climbing that occurred with progressive rise of the water-table level. The water-table rise hindered cannibalization of the lower parts of the migrating megadunes, allowing the accumulation and subsequent preservation of megadune sandstone packages. The rise of the water table was also responsible for the accumulation of thick dry inter-megadune strata. The unusual thickness of linear megadune and inter-megadune deposits of the Galho do Miguel Formation, as compared with Phanerozoic examples, are attributed to the interplay between the barren conditions of the early Earth, the morphodynamics of the linear megadunes, and the seasonal impact of the water table at the accumulation surface. Without a water-table control, opportunities for megadune accumulation and preservation were likely limited in Precambrian ergs.

Improving the estimation of direct release rates and transport processes from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident using higher-resolution oceanic dispersion model

A series of accidents at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station (F1NPS), following the 11 March 2011 earthquake and tsunami, resulted in the release of radioactive substances into the ocean. In particular, the release of large amounts of radioactive caesium has damaged the fishing industry, leading to voluntary restrictions on fishing and shipping. Oceanic dispersion simulations based on estimates of the pathways and fluxes of radioactive materials provide useful information for assessing the environmental impacts and formulating measures to mitigate the effects of the accident. For the direct release rate from the F1NPS site, an estimation method was developed using the results from nearby monitoring, and the seawater exchange rate was estimated in target volume using a numerical simulation. However, the influence of volume on the seawater exchange rate was not considered. Appropriate volumes must be considered when estimating the effects of future accidents. In addition, the directional coastal transport was underestimated in the simulations of the F1NPS accident because of the low resolution. To estimate the pathways and fluxes of radioactive material to the ocean and understand the distribution of the concentration of radioactive material based on ocean dispersion simulations, a study was conducted using a higher-resolution model. The horizontal resolution of the conventional ocean dispersion model Regional Ocean Modelling System (ROMS), was increased from 1 km to 200 m. The optimal settings of the seawater exchange rate were investigated, and the radioactive caesium transport process in the coastal direction was more accurately reflected. We found that the conventional volume for determining the seawater exchange rate, including the locations of release sources and observation points, is optimal. The validity of this finding was confirmed using experimental equations from previous oceanic tracer release experiments. To estimate future release rates, it an appropriate volume must be defined, for example, depending on the distance between the locations of the release sources and the observation point. In addition, improvements in the accuracy of the simulation of the coastal transport process were observed owing to the higher resolution, which increased reproducibility. However, with a horizontal resolution of 200 m, problems with repeatability near the harbours arose. A higher resolution, achieved using nesting or other methods, would be desirable to deal with releases smaller than those in the F1NPS accident.

Bioinspired Multilayered Knitted Fabric with Directional Water Transport and Collection for Personal Sweat Management.

Effective sweat management fabric for sportswear facilitates sweat removal from the skin and elevates the comfort for human. However, when the body is in a strong hot and humid environment or after strenuous exercise, the sweat management fabric will be totally wetted and saturated quickly. As a result, excess sweat cannot be absorbed effectively by the garment, which creates obvious stickiness and heaviness. In this paper, a directional water transport and collection multilayered knitted fabric (DWTCF) is prepared by plasma pretreatment technology and screen coating. The treelike water transport network inspired from nature is designed in order to drive the liquid flow along the channels. By surface modification, branched hydrophilic flow paths are fabricated, and other regions are hydrophobic. As a demonstration, DWTCF has been injected with water to observe the liquid transport behavior. During the experiment, 76.7% liquid is collected by DWTCF, but there is just 0.06% collected by an ordinary knitted fabric. The weight increase of the ordinary fabric is 555.4% larger than that of DWTCF. Specifically, DWTCF utilizes the wetting and pressure-gradient-induced interfacial tension as well as the gravitational effect to facilitate the fluid motion along the hydrophilic channel, in addition to the capillarity present in the fabric structure. This study provides a new idea to develop directional water transport and collection fabric to solve the moisture absorption saturation problem of the fabric, especially for conditions requiring intense sweating.

Reconfigurability-Encoded Hierarchical Rectifiers for Versatile 3D Liquid Manipulation.

Manipulating small-volume liquids is crucial in natural processes and industrial applications. However, most liquid manipulation technologies involve complex energy inputs or non-adjustable wetting gradient surfaces. Here, a simple and adjustable 3D liquid manipulation paradigm is reported to control liquid behaviors by coupling liquid-air-solid interfacial energy with programmable magnetic fields. This paradigm centers around a hierarchical rectifier with magnetized microratchets, using Laplace pressure asymmetry to enable multimodal directional steering of various surface tension liquids (23-72 mN m-1). The scale-dependent effect in microratchet design shows its superiority in handling small-volume liquids across three orders of magnitude (100-103 µL). Under programmed magnetic fields, the rectifier can reconfigure its morphology to harness interfacial energy to exhibit richer liquid behaviors without dynamic real-time control. Reconfigured rectifiers show improved rectification performance in the inertia-dominant fluid regime, i.e., a remarkable 2000-fold increase in the critical Weber number for pure ethanol. Moreover, the rectifier's switchable reconfigurations offer flexible control over liquid transport directions and spatiotemporally controllable 3D liquid manipulation reminiscent of inchworm motions. This scalable liquid manipulation paradigm promotes versatile engineering and biochemistry applications, e.g., portable liquid purity testing (screening resolution <1 mN m-1), logical open-channel microfluidics, and automated chemical reactionplatforms.

Aerosol-Mediated Spread of Antibiotic Resistance Genes: Biomonitoring Indoor and Outdoor Environments.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has emerged as a conspicuous global public health threat. The World Health Organization (WHO) has launched the "One-Health" approach, which encourages the assessment of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) within an environment to constrain and alleviate the development of AMR. The prolonged use and overuse of antibiotics in treating human and veterinary illnesses, and the inability of wastewater treatment plants to remove them have resulted in elevated concentrations of these metabolites in the surroundings. Microbes residing within these settings acquire resistance under selective pressure and circulate between the air-land interface. Initial evidence on the indoor environments of wastewater treatment plants, hospitals, and livestock-rearing facilities as channels of AMR has been documented. Long- and short-range transport in a downwind direction disseminate aerosols within urban communities. Inhalation of such aerosols poses a considerable occupational and public health risk. The horizontal gene transfer (HGT) is another plausible route of AMR spread. The characterization of ARGs in the atmosphere therefore calls for cutting-edge research. In the present review, we provide a succinct summary of the studies that demonstrated aerosols as a media of AMR transport in the atmosphere, strengthening the need to biomonitor these pernicious pollutants. This review will be a useful resource for environmental researchers, healthcare practitioners, and policymakers to issue related health advisories.

Carbon-based phase change composites with directional high thermal conductivity for interface thermal management

Phase change materials (PCMs) can provide a buffer platform for thermal management systems to deal with thermal runaway problems. However, prompt heat dissipation and cost-effective thermal regulation in desired devices are still limited by insufficient thermal transport behavior and liquid leakage of PCMs. Here, we report a facile strategy to develop high-power-density device by carbon-based phase change composites (PCCs) with directional high thermal conductivity. The synergistic effect of self-assembled aligned graphite nanoplatelets (GNPs) inside the resultant PCCs on thermal transport and structural reinforcement enable the PCCs to show high thermal conductivity (in-plane KPCCs of up to 32.86 W m−1 K−1), large heat storage density (158.2–248.3 J g−1), thermal cycling stability, and leakage-proof properties. Furthermore, a PCC-based high-power-density energy device is demonstrated for the tunable thermal regulation by coordinating the orientation of GNPs heat conduction skeleton inside the PCCs with the thermal transport direction of device. The PCC-based module maintains a suitable temperature range of 149–151 °C under various operating conditions and exhibits a decrease of ∼10 °C in the surface peak temperature of power device, showing excellent temperature control performance. Our work holds promising application prospects in the engineering scalable functional PCCs for thermal regulation of electronics and interface thermal management.

Modeling of sediment transport direction affecting Failaka island marina bathymetry, Kuwait

Failaka Island has a marina, which was constructed in 1979 and managed by the Ministry of Communication (MOC) in collaboration with Touristic Enterprises Company (TEC). The marina is widely used for its ferry landing facility. The coastal waters around Failaka are turbid, and current velocities tend to be as high as ∼0.5 m/s during spring tide. The marina basin, with axial plane view and dimensions of about 285m by 260m, experiences shoaling of naturally flocculated fine (cohesive) sediment and coarse sand at the entrance of the channel and more generally in the southern half of the basin. Particularly noteworthy is its heavy shoaling zone along the inner side of the south breakwater close to the entrance. The Failaka island marina is suffering from siltation and sediment deposition issues. The study was carried out numerically to assess the annual sedimentation, sediment direction, and longshore current from different locations around the marina and recommend solutions to reduce the siltation and sediment deposition based on sediment transport direction at the marina entrance. The study shows that the sediment is mostly transported to the Failaka marina entrance from the southeast due to wave action. The cumulative sediment transport for the period 2016 to 2020 as depicted from locations 1 and 2, which are vulnerable to the southeast waves, is 9,164 m3 and 12,323 m3. The annual sediment transport direction affecting the marina is oriented from south to north due to wave action.

A photoelectrochemical immunosensor based on cobalt corrole sensitized carbon nitride for human norovirus detection

Norovirus (NoV) stands as the prevailing etiological agent behind childhood gastroenteritis and foodborne illness, garnering significant attention due to its high infectivity pathogenicity. Protruding domain within the capsid protein (VP1) emerges as the primary antigenicity determinant and a hypervariable region, presenting a potential target site for detecting NoV infection. Herein, a label-free photoelectrochemical (PEC) immunosensor was proposed to achieve high sensitivity toward VP1, utilizing Co-Corrole sensitized carbon nitride (Co-Corrole/CN). Co-Corrole combines with CN through covalent bonds, and the strong binding effect accelerates the directional transport of electrons from CN to Co-Corrole. Co-Corrole acts as a photosensitizer, enhancing light harvesting in the visible region. The well-defined interfacial contact in Co-Corrole/CN heterojunction facilitates the electron-hole pairs separation and transfer. The strong light utilization and efficient carrier migration improve the PEC performance to amplify the photocurrent. This developed immunosensor platform demonstrated a wide range (0.75 pg mL–1-150 ng mL–1) with a notably low limit of detection (0.25 pg mL–1), exhibiting excellent stability and selectivity for other viruses. Moreover, this sensor detected clinical samples with remarkable accuracy and practicability. This research develops a facile and label-free diagnostic analytical technology for highly sensitive detection of NoV VP1 and offers promising prospects for improved diagnostic capability.

From constraints fusion to manifold optimization: A new directional transport manifold metaheuristic algorithm

The ascent of geometry-based models and methodologies, exemplified by geometric deep learning and manifold numerical optimization algorithms, has inaugurated a novel domain across various applications that grapple with geometric data complexities, such as electroencephalogram signals represented by symmetric positive definite matrix manifold, hierarchical data represented by hyperbolic manifold. The imperative fuels this inevitable paradigm shift to encapsulate the intricacies and richness inherent in data, areas where traditional methods prove inadequate. While metaheuristic algorithms are renowned for their versatile adaptability across applications, offering practical solutions within reasonable timeframes. However, the conventional metaheuristic algorithms fail on manifold applications with meaningless solutions. From an extrinsic optimization perspective, we treat manifold optimization problems as general optimization problems with multiple fused constraints that limit the optimization path to the manifold. This study pioneered the proposal and implementation of a metaheuristic manifold optimization, introducing a novel directional transport operator to rectify previously identified issues. Through experimentation across five sets of 25 problems, comparing against five algorithms, including both gradient-free and gradient-dominant counterparts, our proposed algorithm emerges as the optimal performer within the gradient-free category, demonstrating competitiveness even against gradient-dominant algorithms. Furthermore, we applied the proposed algorithm to the robot dynamic manipulation problem, achieving a close-optimal solution that eludes gradient-dominant approaches. This paper delves into the inherent capabilities and establishes the generalization of a metaheuristic algorithm within non-Euclidean functional landscapes. The source code will be available at https://github.com/lingping-fuzzy/metaheuristic-manifold-optimization.

Rural-urban differences in emergency medical services bypass routing of stroke in North Carolina.

Acute stroke is a serious, time-sensitive condition requiring immediate medical attention. Emergency medical services (EMS) routing and direct transport of acute stroke patients to stroke centers improves timely access to care. This study aimed to describe EMS stroke routing and transports by rurality in North Carolina (NC). We conducted a retrospective study using existing data on EMS transports of suspected stroke patients in NC in 2019. The primary study outcome was EMS bypass of the nearest hospital for transport to a nonnearest hospital, determined by geographic information systems (GIS) analysis. Incident addresses were geocoded to census tracts and classified as urban, suburban, or rural by Rural-Urban Commuting Area codes. We compared the frequency of bypass and estimated additional transport times by urban, suburban, and rural incident locations. Of 3666 patients, 1884 (51%) EMS transports bypassed the nearest hospital. Bypass occurred less often for rural EMS incidents (39%) compared to those in urban (57%) and suburban (63%) tracts. The estimated additional transport time for rural bypasses of nonendovascular-capable stroke centers for endovascular-capable stroke centers was a median of 25min (interquartile range 13-33). Using GIS analysis, we found nearly half of EMS transports of suspected stroke patients in NC bypassed the nearest hospital, including noncertified hospitals and stroke centers. Bypasses occurred less often in rural areas, though incurred significantly longer transport times, compared to urban areas. These findings are important for regional stroke system planning, especially for improving rural access to acute stroke care.

Adhesion switchable transition on bio-inspired Janus surface for multi-directional droplet manipulation

Achieving precise and rapid droplets manipulation in versatile directions transport remains a considerable challenge, however adhesion switchable transitions deemed to be rather serviceable. Here, a double-sided microplate array (DMPA) with bio-inspired Janus surfaces, is proposed to fulfill adjustable adhesion through surface wettability switching and microplate dynamic deformation, thereby executing the droplet multi-dimensional manipulation in response to dynamic magnetic field. The triple-coupled bio-inspired Janus surfaces are newly designed with a convex hull and striped structure respectively, inspired by the respiratory ciliary motion and surface properties of lotus and rice leaves. Leveraging variation in superhydrophobicity and low adhesion of convex hull side on Janus surface, diverse droplet directional transports are achieved in plane, such as high-speed horizontal transport (120 mm/s and 500 µL), anti-gravitational climbing (inclined by 15°), and selective droplet orientation. The adhesion switchable transition of surface striped structure on other side is predominated by solid–liquid contact lines evolution resulting from microplate bending deformation, realizing droplet capture/release for long-distance multi-dimensional transport. Concurrently, a magnetic-responsive droplet switch is developed based on multi-directional droplet manipulation, demonstrating enormous potential for practical application.