Purpose The low surface hardness and wear resistance of TA15 alloy limit their applications. The purpose of this study is to enhance the surface mechanical properties of TA15 alloy via carbide coating protection, while guaranteeing the adhesion between the substrate and coatings. Design/methodology/approach First-principles calculations were used to predict the temperature-dependent elastic and thermodynamic properties of the ZrC system. The ZrC coatings were fabricated using double glow plasma alloying (DGPA) technology. Findings Theoretical calculations indicate that ZrC system exhibits promising elastic and thermodynamic properties. The experimental hardness of ZrC coatings prepared using DGPA technology closely matches their theoretical hardness, reaching 25.2 ± 1.1 GPa, while the coating adhesion exceeds 50 N. The tribological test results indicate that the wear rate of the ZrC coatings is (3.9 ± 0.2) × 10−6 mm3/(N·m), representing an improvement of 99.3 % compared to the substrate. Originality/value The combination of theoretical prediction and experiments is an effective strategy in materials research. The ZrC coatings prepared using DGPA technology effectively enhance the mechanical properties of TA15 alloy. Peer review The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/ILT-09-2025-0429/

Cumulative dose evaluation in clinical reirradiation - Consensus guidance on technical considerations by the ESTRO reirradiation focus group.

Rapid advances in large language models (LLMs) have led to the emergence of agentic artificial intelligence (AI) systems capable of autonomously performing complex scientific tasks. This review examines recent developments in agentic AI, highlighting their transformative potential for ophthalmology research and clinical practice, and discusses associated ethical considerations. Recent studies demonstrate that agentic AI systems can autonomously execute tasks traditionally performed by human researchers, including peer review, hypothesis generation, systematic reviews, and experimental design. Notable examples include AI-generated manuscripts accepted through peer review, automated systematic reviews outperforming human accuracy and efficiency, and performing complex biomedical analyses across diverse domains. Although direct ophthalmology-specific applications remain nascent, the field's data-rich nature positions it ideally for adopting agentic AI in several areas such as automated chart review, health economics modeling, and enhanced image analysis. Agentic AI represents a paradigm shift in scientific research, offering significant opportunities to enhance productivity, rigor, and innovation in ophthalmology. However, integration into clinical and research workflows necessitates careful consideration of ethical issues, including authorship attribution, data privacy, bias mitigation, and accountability. Clear governance frameworks, rigorous validation standards, and interdisciplinary training will be essential to responsibly harness agentic AI in ophthalmology.

Implementation of a peer review process with faculty development in a pre-clinical didactic doctor of pharmacy curriculum to improve exam item quality: Lessons learned.

Ethnicity-based variations in biological reference interval- A systematic scoping review.

Management of osteoporosis in Parkinson's disease: A scoping review.

Point-of-Care Ultrasound vs. Manual Palpation for Pulse Check in Cardiac Arrest Patients: A Systematic Review.

The Importance of the Peer Review Process to Safeguard Scientific Integrity.

The neutron total cross section is one of the most fundamental nuclear data. In the low-energy resonance region, discrepancies among measurements are caused by experimental backgrounds, sample self-shielding, and instrumental broadening, complicating the precise determination of cross sections. In this work, the neutron total cross sections of <sup>169</sup>Tm were measured at the Back-n facility of the China Spallation Neutron Source (CSNS). Wing-shaped lithium glass detectors were employed to record the transmitted neutron signals from samples with thicknesses of 0.5 mm and 4.5 mm. The raw data were processed, including time-of-flight correction and normalization to the incident proton number, to account for fluctuations in the proton beam intensity. The in-beam γ background was quantified using the saturated resonance absorption technique with glass scintillators. Following background subtraction, transmission and total cross-section data were obtained over the energy range of 1–100 eV. The measured spectra were analyzed using the SAMMY code within the framework of the R-matrix. Capture data from Ren et al. were incorporated to improve the reliability of the extracted resonance parameters. For the resonance near 8 eV, the Γγ was set to the library average value of 86 meV. The resonance energy was determined to be 8.037 eV, consistent with the recently reported resonance by I. Knapová et al., and the neutron widths for both total spin states were evaluated. Based on the extracted parameters, the neutron total cross section of <sup>169</sup>Tm was reconstructed using the Reich–Moore approximation. The reconstructed cross section shows good agreement with those recommended by ENDF/B-VIII.1 library, confirming the reliability of the resonance parameters extracted from the capture–transmission measurements. Overall, the present measurements and analysis provide a set of resonance parameters for <sup>169</sup>Tm, enhancing the experimental foundation for both nuclear physics research and nuclear industry.<br>The datasets presented in this paper, including the neutron transmission, neutron total cross section, and resonance parameters are openly available at https://www.doi.org/10.57760/sciencedb.j00213.00192 (Please use the private access link https://www.scidb.cn/s/MrUVry to access the dataset during the peer review process)

Based on the generalized reduced R-matrix theory, this work performs a comprehensive analysis of all available experimental data for the <sup>6</sup>He system using the RAC (R-matrix Analysis Code). A complete set of evaluated nuclear data has been obtained for major reaction channels induced by triton beams in the energy range of 10<sup>-</sup><sup>2</sup> ~ 20 MeV. The evaluated integral cross sections include T(t,2n)<sup>4</sup>He, T(t,n)<sup>5</sup>He, and T(t,d)<sup>4</sup>H reactions; the differential cross sections include T(t,2n)<sup>4</sup>He, T(t,n)<sup>5</sup>He, T(t,d)<sup>4</sup>H, and T(t,t)T. The evaluation results show good agreement with experimental data and the evaluated data of ENDF/B-VIII.1. In particular, for the T(t,2n)<sup>4</sup>He reaction, the evaluated cross sections are consistent with existing experiments over the full energy range, and a resonance dominated by the 2<sup>+</sup> level is observed near 2.9 MeV. At 1.9 MeV, where experimental measurements of both integral cross sections and angular distributions are available, the evaluation reproduces both observables well. The combined constraint of integral and differential data significantly improves the stability of R-matrix parameters and the reliability of the evaluation. Based on the global analysis of the <sup>6</sup>He system, this work also provides supplementary cross section data for the T(t,n)<sup>5</sup>He and T(t,d)<sup>4</sup>H reactions. The results contribute to the nuclear data foundation for fusion-related reactions and lay the groundwork for future joint evaluation with the mirror <sup>6</sup>Be system.<br>The datasets presented in this paper, including the ScienceDB, are openly available at https://www.doi.org/10.57760/sciencedb.j00213.00202 (Please use the private access link https://www.scidb.cn/s/7jMryq to access the dataset during the peer review process)

<sup>109</sup>Ag located on the path of the slow neutron capture process, and 79% of <sup>109</sup>Ag is generated via the rapid neutron capture process.Meanwhile, the mass fraction of <sup>109</sup>Ag in Ag-In-Cd control rods is 38.56%. Therefore, the neutron capture cross-section of <sup>109</sup>Ag is crucial for both nuclear energy and nuclear astrophysics applications.In this work, a neutron capture cross-section measurement was performed using a <sup>109</sup>Ag isotope target at the Back-n white neutron facility of the CSNS. Neutron capture cross-section in the 1-500 eV energy region were obtained by combining the time-of-flight method and the pulse-height weighting technique. The <sup>109</sup>Ag resonance energy, neutron resonance width, and gamma resonance width parameters were extracted using the SAMMY code, which is based on R-matrix theory. The neutron resonance parameters extracted from this study at 139.4 eV are in agreement with the values in the JENDL-4.0 evaluation, while those at 169.9 eV and 328.1 eV agree with the JEFF-4.0 evaluation. Additionally, the result at 259.3 eV is consistent with the CENDL-3.2 evaluation.The datasets presented in this paper are openly available at https://www.doi.org/10.57760/sciencedb.j00213.00197 (Please use the private access link https://www.scidb.cn/s/RNfUnq to access the dataset during the peer review process)

The study of unstable nuclei beyond the nucleon drip line is an important method to study the nuclear interaction and structure in the extremely neutron- or proton-rich system, and various nuclides beyond the proton drip line mainly decay by spontaneous one-proton emission. Using the deformed Woods-Saxon potential, spin-orbit potential and the expanded Coulomb potential to construct the daughter-proton potential, based on the quantum tunneling model and the microscopic Gamow state theory, the half-lives data of various proton emitters are systematically calculated. By using nuclear data from different source and comparing to experiments, the dependence of proton emission on decay energy and spectroscopic factors is evaluated. Additionally, based on previous observations, the half-life of the possibly lighter proton emitter in the <i>fpg</i>-shell below has been theoretically predicted. Our results are compiled into a comprehensive dataset of half-lives for both experimentally confirmed emitters (50 < <i>Z</i> < 84) and theoretically predicted emitters (30 < <i>Z</i> < 50), providing a useful reference for future experimental investigations related to the proton drip line. The datasets presented in this paper, including our results of calculation, are openly available at https://www.doi.org/10.57760/sciencedb.27551 (Please use the private access link https://www.scidb.cn/s/zQzA3e to access the dataset during the peer review process).

This study applies machine learning, specifically transfer learning with neural networks, to improve predictions of fission barrier heights and ground state binding energies of superheavy nuclei, which are crucial for calculating survival probabilities in fusion reactions. Transfer learning for neural networks proceeds in two stages: pre-training and fine-tuning, each driven by a distinct pre-training data set and target data set. In this work we split the pre-training data into 60 % for training and 40 % for validation, while the target data are partitioned into 20 % test, with the remaining 80 % further divided into 60 % training and 40 % validation. To construct the neural-network model we adopt the proton number Z and mass number A as the input layer, employ two hidden layers each containing 128 neurons with ReLU (Rectified Linear Unit) activation, and set the learning rate to 0.001. For the fission-barrier-height model, the pre-training dataset is either the FRLDM or the WS4 model data, and the experimental measurements serve as the target set. For the ground-state binding-energy model, we first form the residuals between WS4 predictions and the AME2020 evaluation, then separate these residuals into a light-nucleus subset and a heavy-nucleus subset according to proton number. The light-nucleus subset is used for pre-training and the heavy-nucleus subset for fine-tuning. After optimization, the root-mean-square error (RMSE) of the FRLDM barrier model falls from 1.03 MeV to 0.60 MeV, and that of the WS4 barrier model drops from 0.97 MeV to 0.61 MeV. For the binding-energy model, the RMSE decreases from 0.33 MeV to 0.17 MeV on the test set and from 0.29 MeV to 0.26 MeV on the full data set. We also present the performance of the fission-barrier model before and after refinement, together with the predicted barrier heights along the isotopic chains of the new elements Z = 119 and Z = 120, and analyzed the reasons for the differences in the results obtained by different models. We hope that these results are intended to provide a useful reference for future theoretical studies. The datasets in this paper are openly available at https://www.doi.org/10.57760/sciencedb.28388(Please use private access link https://www.scidb.cn/s/6fmeIz to access the dataset during the peer review process).

Physician responses to patients' emotional cues and concerns and their association with patient-related outcomes.

Tiragolumab plus atezolizumab and chemotherapy as first-line treatment for patients with unresectable oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma (SKYSCRAPER-08): a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase 3 trial.

A Preliminary Exploration of a New Classification of Deep Vein Thrombosis in the Lower Extremities Based on Venography and Physiological Anatomy.

Do machine learning methods make better predictions than conventional ones in pharmacoepidemiology? A systematic review, meta-analysis, and network meta-analysis.

A systematic review of validated instruments assessing healthcare professionals' competence and performance for patients' self-management support.

Exploring environmental sustainability of artificial intelligence in radiology: A scoping review.

Objectives To systematically review observational studies for the relationship between ultrasound (US)-detected features and laboratory inflammatory biomarkers in hand osteoarthritis (OA). Methods A systematic literature search was performed in MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, and Web of Science from their inception to June 2025 to identify relevant observational studies. Study quality was evaluated using the Newcastle–Ottawa Scale (NOS), with two independent reviewers validating the papers. Correlation coefficients and corresponding confidence intervals and P values between US-detected features and biomarkers were extracted and analysed. Results Out of 5,128 citations, four studies (546 participants, 91.75% female, mean age 56.1–66.3 years) scored >5 on the NOS. Significant correlations (r = 0.3–0.57) were found between serum inflammatory markers (e.g. TNF, MIP-β, PDGF-bb, IP-10) and grey-scale synovitis (GSS) specifically in erosive hand OA. No significant correlations were observed between other US-detected features (e.g. power Doppler (PD) signals, osteophytes (OST), effusion, cartilage thickness) and inflammatory biomarkers, with coefficients generally <0.2. Conclusion These findings highlight a critical gap in research linking US-detected features and serum inflammatory markers in hand OA. While some evidence suggests that US-detected GSS may reflect subclinical inflammation, particularly in erosive hand OA, inconsistent results across studies underscore the need for larger, standardised research to support phenotyping and inform targeted diagnostic and therapeutic strategies.