A Designer Scaffold with Immune Nanoconverters for Reverting Immunosuppression and Enhancing Immune Checkpoint Blockade Therapy

Current cancer immunotherapy based on immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) still suffers from low response rate and systemic toxicity. To overcome the limitation, a novel therapeutic platform that can revert nonimmunogenic tumors into immunogenic phenotype is highly required. Herein, a designer scaffold loaded with both immune nanoconverters encapsulated with resiquimod (iNCVs (R848)) and doxorubicin, which provides the polarization of immunosuppressive tumor‐associated macrophages (TAMs) and myeloid‐derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) into tumoricidal antigen‐presenting cells (APCs), rather than depleting them, as well as in situ vaccination that can be generated in vivo without the need to previously analyze and sequence tumor antigens to favor neoantigen‐specific T cell responses is suggested. Local and sustained release of iNCVs (R848) and doxorubicin from the designer scaffold not only reduces the frequency of immunosuppressive cells in tumors but also increases systemic antitumor immune response, while minimizing systemic toxicity. Reshaping the tumor microenivronment (TME) using the designer‐scaffold‐induced synergistic antitumor immunity with ICB effects and long‐term central and effector memory T cell responses, results in the prevention of postsurgical tumor recurrence and metastasis. The spatiotemporal modulation of TMEs through designer scaffolds is expected to be a strategy to overcome the limitations and improve the therapeutic efficacy of current immunotherapies with minimized systemic toxicity.     

Direct Synthesis of a Self‐Assembled WSe2/MoS2 Heterostructure Array and its Optoelectrical Properties

Functional van der Waals heterojunctions of transition metal dichalcogenides are emerging as a potential candidate for the basis of next‐generation logic devices and optoelectronics. However, the complexity of synthesis processes so far has delayed the successful integration of the heterostructure device array within a large scale, which is necessary for practical applications. Here, a direct synthesis method is introduced to fabricate an array of self‐assembled WSe₂/MoS₂ heterostructures through facile solution‐based directional precipitation. By manipulating the internal convection flow (i.e., Marangoni flow) of the solution, the WSe₂ wires are selectively stacked over the MoS₂ wires at a specific angle, which enables the formation of parallel‐ and cross‐aligned heterostructures. The realized WSe₂/MoS₂‐based p–n heterojunction shows not only high rectification (ideality factor: 1.18) but also promising optoelectrical properties with a high responsivity of 5.39 A W^?1 and response speed of 16 µs. As a feasible application, a WSe₂/MoS₂‐based photodiode array (10 × 10) is demonstrated, which proves that the photosensing system can detect the position and intensity of an external light source. The solution‐based growth of hierarchical structures with various alignments could offer a method for the further development of large‐area electronic and optoelectronic applications.     

Minimax particle filtering for tracking a highly maneuvering target

In this paper, we propose a new framework of particle filtering that adopts the minimax strategy. In the approach, we minimize a maximized risk, and the process of the risk maximization is reflected when computing the weights of particles. This scheme results in the significantly reduced variance of the weights of particles that enables the robustness against the degeneracy problem, and we can obtain improved quality of particles. The proposed approach is robust against environmentally adverse scenarios, particularly when the state of a target is highly maneuvering. Furthermore, we can reduce the computational complexity by avoiding the computation of a complex joint probability density function. We investigate the new method by comparing its performance to that of standard particle filtering and verify its effectiveness through experiments. The employed strategy can be adopted for any other variants of particle filtering to enhance tracking performance.     

Activating constructive employee behavioural responses in a crisis: Examining the effects of pre‐crisis reputation and crisis communication strategies on employee voice behaviours

This study explores how organizational management can promote employee voice behaviours, as positive behavioural reactions with constructive ideas, in responding to organizational crisis. Using an experimental study (N = 640) among full‐time employees in the United States, the study found that pre‐crisis internal reputation and crisis communication strategies—accommodative response and stealing thunder—positively and directly affected constructive employee voice behaviours in a crisis situation. Furthermore, the study revealed how post‐crisis internal reputation mediates the influences of pre‐crisis internal reputation and stealing thunder on positive/constructive and negative/destructive employee voice behaviours. The findings of this study contribute to the theoretical development of crisis communication in the internal context of an organization, especially with respect to employee voice behaviours. The study also highlights an important practical implication for crisis managers who can activate and promote positive employee behaviour voices, thereby influencing leadership's strategic decision‐making in an organizational crisis.     

Fuzzy <Emphasis Type="Italic">H</Emphasis><Subscript>∞</Subscript> FIR Filtering for T–S Fuzzy Systems with Quantization and Packet Dropout

This paper proposes a new fuzzy H_∞ finite impulse response (FIR) filter with quantization and packet dropout for Takagi–Sugeno (T–S) fuzzy systems with external disturbance. The measurements are quantized by a logarithmic quantizer and then transmitted from the plant to the filter imperfectly due to random packet loss described by the Bernoulli random process. The proposed fuzzy H_∞ FIR filter is in the form of fuzzy-basis-independent linear matrix inequalities (LMIs) that guarantee H_∞ performance. Two simulation examples are given to illustrate the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed fuzzy H_∞ FIR filter.     

New criteria for stochastic suppression and stabilization of hybrid functional differential systems

This paper establishes new criteria for stochastic suppression and stabilization of hybrid functional differential systems with general 1‐sided polynomial growth condition. For an unstable nonlinear hybrid functional differential system with general 1‐sided polynomial growth condition, 2 independent Brownian noise processes are used to perturb the system into the stochastic hybrid differential system. Theoretical analysis shows that one of the nonlinear diffusion terms may suppress the explosive solution of deterministic system, and the other one can make the perturbed hybrid system almost surely stable with general decay rate.     

Effects of Fluorinated Diluents in Localized High-Concentration Electrolytes for Lithium–Oxygen Batteries

A stable electrolyte is critical for practical application of lithium–oxygen batteries (LOBs). Although the ionic conductivity and electrochemical stability of the electrolytes have been extensively investigated before, their oxygen solubility, viscosity, volatility, and the stability against singlet oxygen (¹O₂) still need to be comprehensively investigated to provide a full picture of the electrolytes, especially for an open system such as LOBs. Herein, a systematic investigation is reported on the localized high-concentration electrolytes (LHCEs) using different fluorinated diluents in comparison with those of conventional electrolytes. The physical properties and activation energies for reactions with singlet oxygen (¹O₂) of these electrolytes are calculated by density functional theory. The electrochemical performances of LOBs using these electrolytes are compared. This study reveals that the correlation between the stability of the electrolytes and their physical and electrochemical properties depends strongly on the diluents in LHCEs. Therefore, it shines light on the rational design of new electrolytes for LOBs.     

Digital Laser Micropainting for Reprogrammable Optoelectronic Applications

Structural coloration is closely related to the progress of innovative optoelectronic applications, but the absence of direct, on-demand, and rewritable coloration schemes has impeded advances in the relevant area, particularly including the development of customized, reprogrammable optoelectronic devices. To overcome these limitations, a digital laser micropainting technique, based on controlled thin-film interference, is proposed through direct growth of the absorbing metal oxide layer on a metallic reflector in the solution environment via a laser. A continuous-wave laser simultaneously performs two functions—a photothermal reaction for site-selective metal oxide layer growth and in situ real-time monitoring of its thickness—while the reflection spectrum is tuned in a broad visible spectrum according to the laser fluence. The scalability and controllability of the proposed scheme is verified by laser-printed painting, while altering the thickness via supplementary irradiation of the identical laser in the homogeneous and heterogeneous solutions facilitates the modification of the original coloration. Finally, the proof-of-concept bolometer device verifies that specific wavelength-dependent photoresponsivity can be assigned, erased, and reassigned by the successive application of the proposed digital laser micropainting technique, which substantiates its potential to offer a new route for reprogrammable optoelectronic applications.     

Atomically Smooth Graphene-Based Hybrid Template for the Epitaxial Growth of Organic Semiconductor Crystals

Atomically thin 2D materials are good templates to grow organic semiconductor thin films with desirable features. However, the 2D materials typically exhibit surface roughness and spatial charge inhomogeneity due to nonuniform doping, which can affect the uniform assembly of organic thin films on the 2D materials. A hybrid template is presented for preparation of highly crystalline small-molecule organic semiconductor thin film that is fabricated by transferring graphene onto a highly ordered self-assembled monolayer. This hybrid graphene template has low surface roughness and spatially uniform doping, and it yields highly crystalline fullerene thin films with grain sizes >300 nm, which is the largest reported grain size for C₆₀ thin films on 2D materials. A graphene/fullerene/pentacene phototransistor fabricated directly on the hybrid template has five times higher photoresponsivity than a phototransistor fabricated on a conventional graphene template supported by a SiO₂ wafer.