Silane functionalization of WS nanotubes for interaction with poly(lactic acid).

Functionalisation of nanofillers is required for the promotion of strong interfacial interactions with polymers and is essential as a route for the preparation of (nano)composites with superior mechanical properties. Tungsten disulphide nanotubes (WS NTs) were functionalized using (3-aminopropyl) triethoxysilane (APTES) for preparation of composites with poly(lactic acid) (PLA). The WS NTs : APTES ratios used were 1 : 1, 1 : 2 and 1 : 4 WS NTs : APTES.

Design and research of soft-body cavity-type detonation drivers.

According to the high-energy-density movement characteristics of animals during jumping, soft-body cavity-type detonation driver that combines the explosive chemical reaction mechanism of hydrogen and oxygen is designed, in order to control the robot in jump to achieve output optimization. Then, combined with the theoretical values of the detonation dynamic equation and experimental data for the performance parameters, the influences of the mixing ratio of hydrogen (H) and oxygen (O), the volume of mixed hydrogen and oxygen in the cavity, and the shape, wall thickness, and area ratio value of the soft-body cavity on the output performance of the detonation driver are analyzed. When gas volume is 20:10 mL, the jump height reaches 2.

Intensity Ratio of / in Selected Elements from Mg to Cu, and the Chemical Effects of Cr Diagram Lines and Cr / Intensity Ratio in Cr Compounds.

Kα,β X-ray lines from photon excitation were measured in selected elements from Mg to Cu using a high-resolution double-crystal X-ray spectrometer with a proportional counter, and the Kβ/Kα intensity ratio for each element was obtained, after correcting for self-absorption, detection efficiency, and crystal reflectance. This intensity ratio increases rapidly from Mg to Ca but, in the 3d elements region, the increase becomes slower. This is related to the intensity of the Kβ line involving valence electrons.

Small molecule-nanobody conjugate induced proximity controls intracellular processes and modulates endogenous unligandable targets.

Chemically induced proximity (CIP) is a powerful tool to study cellular functions. However with current CIP inducers it is difficult to directly modulate unligandable and endogenous targets, and therapeutic translational potential is also restricted. Herein, we combine CIP and chemical nanobody engineering and create cell-permeable small molecule-nanobody conjugate inducers of proximity (SNACIPs).

Modified UiO-66-Br Microphotocatalyst with High Electron Mobility Enhances Tetracycline Degradation.

In this work, the Br functional group on the ligand UiO-66-Br was modified with a Bi-O bond through the secondary solvothermal method, and the synthesis method of visible light catalyst UB (UiO-66-BiOBr) with high electron mobility was explored. The findings indicate that the effective charge transfer of the functional group-modified material UB is 2.98 times and 1.

Mitigating Swelling of the Solid Electrolyte Interphase using an Inorganic Anion Switch for Low-temperature Lithium-ion Batteries.

In overcoming the Li desolvation barrier for low-temperature battery operation, a weakly-solvated electrolyte based on carboxylate solvent has shown promises. In case of an organic-anion-enriched primary solvation sheath (PSS), we found that the electrolyte tends to form a highly swollen, unstable solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) that shows a high permeability to the electrolyte components, accounting for quickly declined electrochemical performance of graphite-based anode. Here we proposed a facile strategy to tune the swelling property of SEI by introducing an inorganic anion switch into the PSS, via LiDFP co-solute method.

Bone cutting processes and removal behaviors in orthopedic surgery with an ultrasonic orthopedic scalpel.

Bone cutting is a common and important procedure in surgery. As a type of orthopedic instrument, ultrasonic orthopedic scalpels (UOSs) have been widely used due to their safety and convenience. Therefore, it is very important to have a deep understanding of the cutting process and the bone removal behavior of a UOS, to improve cutter design and complement the basic theory of the bone-cutting mechanism.

Screening of pesticides in serum, urine and cerebrospinal fluid collected from an urban population in China.

Human exposure to pesticides is a topic of public health concern for decades. Pesticide exposures have been assessed through the analysis of urine or blood matrices, but little is known on the accumulation of these chemicals in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). CSF plays an important role in maintaining physical and chemical balance of the brain and central nervous system and any perturbation can have adverse effects on health.

Paroxysmal Slow-Wave Events Are Uncommon in Parkinson's Disease.

Background: Parkinson’s disease (PD) is currently considered to be a multisystem neurodegenerative disease that involves cognitive alterations. EEG slowing has been associated with cognitive decline in various neurological diseases, such as PD, Alzheimer’s disease (AD), and epilepsy, indicating cortical involvement. A novel method revealed that this EEG slowing is composed of paroxysmal slow-wave events (PSWE) in AD and epilepsy, but in PD it has not been tested yet.

Nonlocal Cable-Network Metamaterials.

Metamaterials are artificial materials in which the atoms of ordinary solids are replaced by tailored functional building blocks. Therefore, previous work has emphasized tailoring the inside of the building blocks, for example, by exploiting local resonances, to realize unusual effective metamaterial properties. However, the wave properties of a metamaterial are not only determined by its building blocks but also by the interactions between these building blocks.

Research Progress of Shape Memory Polymer and 4D Printing in Biomedical Application.

As a kind of smart material, shape memory polymer (SMP) shows great application potential in the biomedical field. Compared with traditional metal-based medical devices, SMP-based devices have the following characteristics: 1) The adaptive ability allows the biomedical device to better match the surrounding tissue after being implanted into the body by minimally invasive implantation; 2) it has better biocompatibility and adjustable biodegradability; 3) mechanical properties can be regulated in a large range to better match with the surrounding tissue. 4D printing technology is a comprehensive technology based on smart materials and 3D printing, which has great application value in the biomedical field.

Various Fractions of Alcoholic Extracts from Functionalized Antioxidation and Antiaging in D-Galactose-Induced Aging Mice.

Background: The theory of free radical oxidative stress (ROS) is one of the leading theories of ageing, and antioxidants play an important role in antiaging. Dendrobium has always been popular as a natural antioxidant.

Methods: This study investigated the effects of various polarity fractions of ethanol extracts from Lindl.

Experimental microwave-assisted air gasification of biomass in fluidized bed reactor.

Microwave-assisted heating is an effective heating method for thermochemical conversion of biomass. In this study, experimental syngas production from microwave-assisted air gasification of biomass in a fluidized bed reactor at different gasification temperatures, equivalence ratios and silicon carbide loads, was studied and reported. The results showed that the highest syngas yield (78.

Combining Four Gaussian Lasers Using Silicon Nitride MMI Slot Waveguide Structure.

Transceivers that function under a high-speed rate (over 200 Gb/s) need to have more optical power ability to overcome the power losses which is a reason for using a larger RF line connected to a Mach-Zehnder modulator for obtaining high data bitrate communication. One option to solve this problem is to use a complex laser with a power of over 100 milliwatts. However, this option can be complicated for a photonic chip circuit due to the high cost and nonlinear effects, which can increase the system noise.

Soft Wearable Robots: Development Status and Technical Challenges.

In recent years, more and more research has begun to focus on the flexible and lightweight design of wearable robots. During this process, many novel concepts and achievements have been continuously made and shown to the public, while new problems have emerged at the same time, which need to be solved. In this paper, we give an overview of the development status of soft wearable robots for human movement assistance.

Biobased and Programmable Electroadhesive Metasurfaces.

Electroadhesion has shown the potential to deliver versatile handling devices because of its simplicity of actuation and rapid response. Current electroadhesion systems have, however, significant difficulties in adapting to external objects with complex shapes. Here, a novel concept of metasurface is proposed by combining the use of natural fibers (flax) and shape memory epoxy polymers in a hygromorphic and thermally actuated composite (HyTemC).

Kirigami-Inspired Flexible Lithium-Ion Batteries via Transformation of Concentrated Stress into Segmented Strain.

Emerging directions in the growing wearable electronics market have spurred the development of flexible energy storage systems that require deformability while maintaining electrochemical performance. However, the traditional fabrication approaches of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) are challenging to withstand long-cycle bending alternating loads due to the stress concentration caused by the nonuniformity of the actual deformation. Herein, inspired by kirigami, a segmented deformation design of full-cell scale thin-type flexible lithium-ion batteries (FLIBs) with large-scale manufacturing characteristics via the current collector's mechanical blanking process is reported.

Programmable 4D Printing of Photoactive Shape Memory Composite Structures.

4D printing is an advanced manufacturing technology combining additive manufacturing with smart materials. Based on light-active shape memory composites, smart medical structures with remote control capability, therapeutic function, and biocompatibility are hopefully fabricated by 4D printing. Here, a multifunctional composite with good mechanical properties, biocompatibility, and light-active shape memory performance is prepared by incorporating gold nanoparticles into a shape memory polyurethane matrix.

Organic Cation-Directed Modulation of Emissions in Zero-Dimensional Hybrid Tin Bromides.

Zero-dimensional hybrid metal halides (0D HMHs) are attractive due to their intriguing self-trapped exciton (STE) emission properties. However, the effect of organic cations on the emission of 0D HMHs is relatively underexplored. Herein, we report two types of 0D hybrid tin bromides, (BMe)SnBr (BMe = CNH) and (MeH)SnBr (MeH = CNH), which share similar structural features with different hydrogen bonding (HB) interactions between [SnBr] anions and organic cations.

A Selective Review on the Novel Approaches and Potential Control Agents of Anti-biofouling and Anti-biofilming.

Specific aggregates of bacterial colonies, which, when embedded in a self-produced matrix, are known to cause biofouling. These complex structures are highly resistant to extreme stress conditions like antibiotics, complex cleaning strategies, or even the human immune system. The formation of biofilm matrices and biofouling is chosen as the preferred microbial environment owing to the advantages offered for the embedded cells for their long-term survival.

Non-invasive blood glucose sensing by machine learning of optic fiber-based speckle pattern variation.

Significance: The ability to perform frequent non-invasive monitoring of glucose in the bloodstream is very applicable for diabetic patients.

Aim: We experimentally verified a non-invasive multimode fiber-based technique for sensing glucose concentration in the bloodstream by extracting and analyzing the collected speckle patterns.

Approach: The proposed sensor consists of a laser source, digital camera, computer, multimode fiber, and alternating current (AC) generated magnetic field source.

1 × 4 Wavelength Demultiplexer C-Band Using Cascaded Multimode Interference on SiN Buried Waveguide Structure.

Back reflection losses are a key problem that limits the performances of optical communication systems that work on wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) technology based on silicon (Si) Multimode Interference (MMI) waveguides. In order to overcome this problem, we propose a novel design for a 1 × 4 optical demultiplexer based on the MMI in silicon nitride (SiN) buried waveguide structure that operates at the C-band spectrum. The simulation results show that the proposed device can transmit four channels with a 10 nm spacing between them that work in the C-band with a low power loss range of 1.

A contrastive consistency semi-supervised left atrium segmentation model.

Accurate segmentation for the left atrium (LA) is a key process of clinical diagnosis and therapy for atrial fibrillation. In clinical, the semantic-level segmentation of LA consumes much time and labor. Although supervised deep learning methods can somewhat solve this problem, a high-efficient deep learning model requires abundant labeled data that is hard to acquire.

Large datasets of water vapor sorption, mass diffusion immersed in water, hygroscopic expansion and mechanical properties of flax fibre/shape memory epoxy hygromorph composites.

This data article presents four experimental sets of results related to flax fibre composites with epoxy shape memory polymer matrix: water vapor absorption, mass diffusion immersed in water, hygroscopic expansion, mechanical properties. The water vapor absorption tests are described in raw data related to four types of laminates with weights measured at different relative humidity (0%, 9%, 33%, 44%,75%, 85% and 100%). The mass diffusion experiments are related to weights of immersed samples over time.