Microstructural and mechanical properties assessment of transient liquid phase bonding of CoCuFeMnNi high entropy alloy

The transient liquid phase (TLP) bonding of CoCuFeMnNi high entropy alloy (HEA) was studied. The TLP bonding was performed using AWS BNi-2 interlayer at 1050 °C with the TLP bonding time of 20, 60, 180 and 240 min. The effect of bonding time on the joint microstructure was characterized by SEM and EDS. Microstructural results confirmed that complete isothermal solidification occurred approximately at 240 min of bonding time. For samples bonded at 20, 60 and 180 min, athermal solidification zone was formed in the bonding area which included Cr-rich boride and Mn₃Si intermetallic compound. For all samples, the γ solid solution was formed in the isothermal solidification zone of the bonding zone. To evaluate the effect of TLP bonding time on mechanical properties of joints, the shear strength and micro-hardness of joints were measured. The results indicated a decrement of micro-hardness in the bonding zone and an increment of micro-hardness in the adjacent zone of joints. The minimum and maximum values of shear strength were 100 and 180 MPa for joints with the bonding time of 20 and 240 min, respectively.     

Targeted editing of intronic-splicing silencer enhancement of SMN2 Exon 7 inclusion by CRISPR/Case 9

Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is an autosomal recessive hereditary neuromuscular disease. Exon 7 and 8 of survival of motor neuron 1 (SMN1) gene or only exon 7 homology deletion leads to the failure to produce a full-length SMN gene. The copy number of SMN2 gene with high homology of SMN1 affects the degree of disease and was the target gene for targeting therapy, in which splicing silencer in intron 7 was the key to suppress the inclusion of exon 7. In this study, we projected to use CRISPR/Case 9 for the targeted editing of intronic-splicing silencer (ISS) sequence to promote the inclusion of SMN2 exon 7 and increase the production of SMN2 full-length (FL) gene expression. It happens that there was a protospacer adjacent motif (PAM) at one end of the ISS sequence according to the design of sgRNA. The recombinant vector of sgRNA HSMN2 CRISPR/Case 9 was constructed and transfected into HEK293 cells. Sequencing results showed that the ISS sequence could be edited accurately and targeting in the predicted direction, in which deleting small fragments, inserting small amounts and mutation. Quantitative analysis of RT-PCR products by restriction enzyme of DdeI digestion showed that the FL of SMN2 increased by 8% (P < 0.05). In the primary cultured chondrocytes of SMA mice, in which sgRNA HSMN2 CRISPR/Case9 recombinant vector transfection could increase the SMN2 FL gene by 23% (P < 0.05) and significantly improve SMN protein levels (P < 0.05). CRISPR/Case 9 is an effective tool for gene editing and therapy of hereditary diseases, but it is rarely reported in the treatment of SMA diseases. This study shows that CRISPR/Case 9 was first used for the precision target of ISS sequence editing, which can effectively promote the production of SMN2 FL gene expressions, in which there was an important clinical reference value.     

Exploration of GH94 Sequence Space for Enzyme Discovery Reveals a Novel Glucosylgalactose Phosphorylase Specificity

The substantial increase in DNA sequencing efforts has led to a rapid expansion of available sequences in glycoside hydrolase families. The ever-increasing sequence space presents considerable opportunities for the search for enzymes with novel functionalities. In this work, the sequence-function space of glycoside hydrolase family 94 (GH94) was explored in detail, using a combined approach of phylogenetic analysis and sequence similarity networks. The identification and experimental screening of unknown clusters led to the discovery of an enzyme from the soil bacterium Paenibacillus polymyxa that acts as a 4-O-β-d -glucosyl-d -galactose phosphorylase (GGalP), a specificity that has not been reported to date. Detailed characterization of GGalP revealed that its kinetic parameters were consistent with those of other known phosphorylases. Furthermore, the enzyme could be used for production of the rare disaccharides 4-O-β-d -glucosyl-d -galactose and 4-O-β-d -glucosyl-l -arabinose. Our current work highlights the power of rational sequence space exploration in the search for novel enzyme specificities, as well as the potential of phosphorylases for rare disaccharide synthesis.     

Operation principles for hydrogen spark ignited direct injection engines for passenger car applications

The sustainable reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from road transport requires solutions to achieve net-zero carbon dioxide emissions. Therefore, in addition to vehicles with electrified powertrains, such as those implemented in battery electric of fuel cell vehicles, internal combustion engines fueled with e-fuels or biofuels are also under discussion. An e-fuel that has come into focus recently, is hydrogen due to its potential to achieve zero tank-to-wheel and well-to-wheel carbon dioxide emissions when the electrolysis is powered by electricity from renewable sources. Due to the high laminar burning velocity, hydrogen has the potential for engine operation with high cylinder charge dilution by e.g. external exhaust gas recirculation or enleanment, resulting in increased efficiency. On the other hand, the high burning velocity and high adiabatic flame temperatures pose a challenge for engine cooling due to increased heat losses compared to conventional fuels. To further evaluate the use of hydrogen for small passenger car engines, a series production 1 L 3 cylinder gasoline engine provided by Ford Werke GmbH was modified for hydrogen direct injection. The engine was equipped with a high pressure external exhaust gas recirculation system to investigate charge dilution at stoichiometric operation. Due to limitations of the turbocharging system, very lean operation, which can achieve nitrogen oxides raw emissions below 10 ppm, was limited to part load operation below BMEP = 8 bar. Thus, a reduction of the nitrogen oxides emission level at high loads compared to stoichiometric operation was not possible. At stoichiometric operation with external exhaust gas recirculation engine efficiency can be increased significantly. The comparison of stoichiometric hydrogen and gasoline operation shows a reduced indicated efficiency with hydrogen with significant faster combustion of hydrogen at comparable centers of combustion. However, higher boost pressures would allow to achieve even higher indicated efficiencies by charge dilution compared to gasoline engine operation.     

Image sequence-based risk behavior detection of power operation inspection personnel

A novel image sequence-based risk behavior detection method to achieve high-precision risk behavior detection for power maintenance personnel is proposed in this paper. In this method, the original image sequence data is first separated from the foreground and background. Then, the free anchor frame detection method is used in the foreground image to detect the personnel and correct their direction. Finally, human posture nodes are extracted from each frame of the image sequence, which are then used to identify the abnormal behavior of the human. Simulation experiment results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm has significant advantages in terms of the accuracy of human posture node detection and risk behavior identification.     

Analysis and proposition of limiting current density measurement protocol

Limiting current density at different temperatures, backpressures, and balance gases can be used to separate molecular diffusion resistance, Knudsen diffusion resistance and local transport resistance of membrane electrode assembly (MEA). However, the measurement of limiting current density has no unified protocol. The diverse choices in the literature, either in the control of current or voltage or in the atmosphere like relative humidity and O₂ concentrations, make it difficult to compare the results and identify the true bottleneck hindering the mass transport. In this work, the current-voltage curves obtained by current scanning/stepping and voltage scanning/stepping methods under dilute O₂ of different concentrations and a wide range of relative humidity were measured and analyzed systematically. It is found that the voltage stepping method is superior to the other three ways of control for the reliable determination of the limiting current density. Aided with simultaneous electrochemical impedance spectroscopy measurement, the limiting current density can be determined with pinpoint accuracy. When the limiting current density is just used to qualitatively evaluate different MEA, the voltage scanning method can be used instead for its high time efficiency. The selection of the atmosphere also plays an important role in suppressing the distortion from excessive water and reducing the spurious contribution from proton conduction resistance. It is found that O₂ concentrations at 0.5 vol% and relative humidity at 90% can give the best estimation of O₂ transport resistance in membrane electrode assembly.     

Near-Field Drives Long-Lived Shallow Trapping of Polymeric C3N4 for Efficient Photocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution

Undesired photoelectronic dormancy through active species decay is adverse to photoactivity enhancement. An insufficient extrinsic driving force leads to ultrafast deep charge trapping and photoactive species depopulation in carbon nitride (g-C₃N₄). Excitation of shallow trapping in g-C₃N₄ with long-lived excited states opens up the possibility of pursuing high-efficiency photocatalysis. Herein, a near-field-assisted model is constructed consisting of an In₂O₃-cube/g-C₃N₄ heterojunction associated with ultrafast photodynamic coupling. This In₂O₃-cube-induced near-field assistance system provides catalytic “hot areas”, efficiently enhances the lifetimes of excited states and shallow trapping in g-C₃N₄ and this favors an increased active species density. Optical simulations combined with time-resolved transient absorption spectroscopy shows there is a built-in charge transfer and the active species lifetimes are longer in the In₂O₃-cube/g-C₃N₄ hybrid. Besides these properties, the estimated overpotential and interfacial kinetics of the In₂O₃-cube/g-C₃N₄ hybrid co-promotes the liquid phase reaction and also helps in boosting the photocatalytic performance. The photocatalytic results exhibit a tremendous improvement (34-fold) for visible-light-driven hydrogen production. Near-field-assisted long-lived active species and the influences of trap states is a novel finding for enhancing (g-C₃N₄)-based photocatalytic performance.     

Microcrack healing in zirconia ceramics under a DC electric field/current

Flash event caused by a DC electric field/current was applied to the crack healing in 8 mol % Y₂O₃ stabilized cubic ZrO₂ polycrystals (8Y-CSZ). The flash event, which occurred by applying the DC power higher than a critical value of 100 mW/mm³, successfully healed the microcrack within several minutes without any healing agents at a furnace temperature of 800 °C. As compared to the healing treatment under static annealing, the healing phenomena were accelerated about 2 times under the flash treatment even at the same temperatures, suggesting that the enhanced healing phenomena cannot be explained only by the temperature effect. Since the rate of grain growth was accelerated under the flash treatment, the flash healing would be accelerated through the current-enhanced diffusional processes. This study shows for the first time that the flash event has a potential to apply to the crack healing process in the ceramic materials and composites.