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Comprehending the Microstructure regarding Mortars regarding National Customs Utilizing X-ray CT along with MIP.
Most piezotronic nanodevices rely on the piezopotential generated by the bending of their component piezoelectric nanowires (NWs). The mechanical behaviours and piezopotential properties of zinc oxide (ZnO) NWs under lateral bending are investigated in this paper by using a multiscale modelling technique combining first-principles calculations, molecular dynamics simulations and finite-element calculations. Two phase transformation processes are successively found in ZnO NWs by increasing the bending force. As a result, the inner and outer surfaces of bent ZnO NWs transform from the parent wurtzite (WZ) structure to a hexagonal (HX) structure and a body-centred-tetragonal (BCT-4) structure, respectively. Different material properties are found among the WZ, BCT-4, and HX structures, which result in a significant change in the piezopotential distribution in bent ZnO NWs after the phase transformation. Meanwhile, the piezopotential generated in bent ZnO NWs can be enhanced by an order of magnitude due to the phase transformation. Moreover, a significant increase in the electronic band gap is found in the transformed HX structure, which implies that the phase transformation may also affect the piezopotential in bent ZnO NWs by modifying their semiconducting properties especially when the doping level of NWs is large.The results presented in this paper show how the optical properties and colloidal stability of quantum dots (QDs) vary depending on pH conditions. For this investigation, as-synthesized hydrophobic CdSe/CdS QDs were transferred to an aqueous medium by surface modification with 3-mercaptopropionic acid. The ligand exchange procedure was applied under three different pH conditions acidic, neutral and alkaline, to obtain three kinds of hydrophilic QDs dispersed in phosphate buffer. The efficiency of the functionalization of QDs was estimated based on the changes in ABS and the highest value was obtained under acidic conditions (45%). The efficiency of photoluminescence (PL) was also best preserved under these conditions, although it was 30 times less than the PL of hydrophobic QDs. Then, all three kinds of hydrophilic QDs were dispersed in solutions with a wide range of pH (2-12) and investigated by absorbance and PL measurements. The results show that QDs subjected to a ligand exchange procedure are characterized by intensive PL at the selected pH values, which correspond to pKa of the ligand. This phenomenon is independent of the pH at which the ligand exchange procedure is conducted. Moreover, it was found that the PL intensity is preserved during the experiment for QDs functionalized under neutral conditions, whereas it decreases for acidic and increases for alkaline conditions.Using detailed atomistic simulations, we explore the morphological characteristics of aggregates formed in solution phase by ternary biomimetic antimicrobial (AM) methacrylate polymers, composed of hydrophobic, charged cationic and polar functional groups and compare it with aggregate morphologies of binary methacrylate polymers, composed only of hydrophobic and charged cationic functional groups. The effect of sequence of the constituent functional groups on aggregate conformation is also studied by considering random and block sequences along the polymer backbone. Our results show that while binary polymers tend to form robust aggregates, replacing some of the hydrophobic groups with overall charge neutral polar groups weakens the aggregate considerably, leading to increased conformational fluctuations and formation of loose-packed, open aggregates, particularly in the case of random ternary polymers. Interaction energy calculations clearly suggest that the role of inclusion of polar groups in ternary polymers is two-fold (1) to reduce possible strong local concentration of hydrophobic groups and 'smear' the overall hydrophobicity along the polymer backbone to increase the solubility of the polymers (2) to compensate the loss of attractive hydrophobic interactions by forming attractive electrostatic interactions with the charged groups and contribute to aggregation formation, albeit weak. Given that most of the naturally occurring AM peptides have contributions from all the three functional groups, this study elucidates the functionally tuneable role of inclusion of polar groups in the way AM agents interact with each other in solution phase, which can eventually dictate their partitioning behaviour into bacterial and mammalian membranes.Ionic microgel particles are intriguing systems in which the properties of thermo-responsive polymeric colloids are enriched by the presence of charged groups. In order to rationalize their properties and predict the behaviour of microgel suspensions, it is necessary to develop a coarse-graining strategy that starts from the accurate modelling of single particles. Here, we provide a numerical advancement of a recently-introduced model for charged co-polymerized microgels by improving the treatment of ionic groups in the polymer network. We investigate the thermoresponsive properties of the particles, in particular their swelling behaviour and structure, finding that, when charged groups are considered to be hydrophilic at all temperatures, highly charged microgels do not achieve a fully collapsed state, in favorable comparison to experiments. In addition, we explicitly include the solvent in the description and put forward a mapping between the solvophobic potential in the absence of the solvent and the monomer-solvent interactions in its presence, which is found to work very accurately for any charge fraction of the microgel. Our work paves the way for comparing single-particle properties and swelling behaviour of ionic microgels to experiments and to tackle the study of these charged soft particles at a liquid-liquid interface.
Deep inferior epigastric perforator (DIEP) free flaps are widely used as a reconstruction option following mastectomy in breast cancer. During such cases partial tissue necrosis can occur due to the insufficient blood supply to the transplanted tissue site. Therefore, monitoring of flap perfusion and early detection of flap failure is a prerequisite to flap survival. There is a need to develop a non-invasive, easy to use, reproducible and inexpensive monitoring device to assess flap perfusion postoperatively.

A three-wavelength reflective optical sensor and processing system based on the principle of photoplethysmography (PPG) has been developed to investigate blood volumetric changes and estimate free flap blood oxygen saturation continuously and non-invasively in DIEP free flaps in the postoperative period. The system was evaluated in 15 patients undergoing breast reconstructive surgery using DIEP free flap. Main results and Significance Good quality red, infrared and green PPG signals were obtained in er used in this study. This pilot study has demonstrated that PPG has the potential to be used as a monitoring technique in assessing free flap viability.Oxide materials have shown promising thermoelectric applications due to their availability, tunability, and thermal stability. Among oxide materials, the layered tin oxides (SnO) attract raising attention in the electronic and optoelectronic field owing to their lone pair electrons. We have investigated the thermoelectric properties of layered SnO structures through first-principle calculations. SnO exhibits superior n-type thermoelectric properties and the metallicity of SnO becomes stronger with the number of layers increasing. The lone pair electrons around Sn atoms are the key factor to n-type properties and they will get bonded and anti-bonded in the case of interlayer interaction. Monolayer SnO exhibits the best thermoelectric performances and the average n-type ZT value of monolayer SnO can achieve 0.90 at 500-700 K. Our results demonstrate that layered SnO will be the potential n-type two-dimensional oxide thermoelectric material.Nucleus pulposus (NP) degeneration is the major cause of degenerative disc disease (DDD). This condition cannot be treated or attuned by traditional open or minimally invasive surgical options. However, a combination of stem cells, growth factors (GFs) and biomaterials present a viable option for NP regeneration. Injectable biomaterials act as carriers for controlled release of GFs and deliver stem cells to target tissues through a minimally invasive approach. In this study, injectable Gelatin methacryloyl (GelMA) microspheres (GMs) with controllable, uniform particle sizes were rapidly biosythesized through a low-cost electrospraying method. The GMs were used as delivery vehicles for cells and GFs and they exhibited good mechanical properties, biocompatibilities and enhanced the in vitro differentiation of laden cells into NP-like phenotypes. this website Furthermore, this integrated system attenuated the in vivo degeneration of rat intervertebral disc, maintained NP tissue integrity and accelerated the synthesis of extracellular matrix (ECM). Therefore, this novel therapeutic system is a promising option for the treatment of Degenerative disc disease (DDD).We investigate the effects of varying temperature and chemical potential on the optical absorption spectrum of (001) surface states of topological crystalline insulator SnTe using a four-band effective k ⋅ p Hamiltonian. The spectrum is characterized by a narrow peak at 52 meV and a shoulder feature at 160 meV. Both absorptions have maximal intensity at 0 K or when chemical potential is located at the charge neutrality point. Then, as temperature increases or as chemical potential diverges, they both decrease in intensity. The 52 meV peak originates from transitions between high density of states regions surrounding van Hove singularities and is the spectrum's most prominent feature. Additionally, a third absorption from 110 meV to 150 meV, initially absent at 0 K or chemical potential at charge neutrality point, gradually builds in intensity as temperature increases or as chemical potential diverges. This absorption arises from transitions between low and high energy bands of opposite helicity. Importantly, we find that all distinct spectral features are diminished if the magnitude of chemical potential diverges to values above the van Hove singularity energies. If a given sample's chemical potential is well-controlled, conventional infrared spectroscopy may be used to identify the spectral signatures of SnTe (001) surface states at room temperatures and without use of large magnetic fields.The binary Voronoi mixture is a fluid model whose interactions are derived from the Voronoi-Laguerre tessellation of the configurations of the system. The resulting interactions are local and many-body. Here we perform molecular-dynamics (MD) simulations of an equimolar mixture that is weakly polydisperse and additive. For the first time we study the structural relaxation of this mixture in the supercooled-liquid regime. From the simulations we determine the time- and temperature-dependent coherent and incoherent scattering functions for a large range of wave vectors, as well as the mean-square displacements of both particle species. We perform a detailed analysis of the dynamics by comparing the MD results with the first-principles-based idealized mode-coupling theory (MCT). To this end, we employ two approaches fits to the asymptotic predictions of the theory, and fit-parameter-free binary MCT calculations based on static-structure-factor input from the simulations. We find that many-body interactions of the Voronoi mixture do not lead to strong qualitative differences relative to similar analyses carried out for simple liquids with pair-wise interactions.
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