Optical Properties of Self‐Assembled Cellulose Nanocrystals Films Suspended at Planar–Symmetrical Interfaces

Hierarchically structured materials comprising rod‐like, chiral, nanoparticles are commonly encountered in nature as they can form assemblies with exceptional optical and mechanical characteristics. These include cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs), which have a large potential for the fabrication of bioinspired materials mimicking those advanced properties. Fine‐tuning the optomechanical properties of assemblies obtained from CNCs hinges on the transformations from suspensions of liquid crystals to long‐range order in the dry state. So far, associated transitions have been studied using trivial interfaces such as planar substrates. Such transitions are explored as they evolve onto meshed supports. The meshed substrate offers a complex topology, as is encountered in nature, for the formation of CNCs films. The CNCs self‐assembly occurs under confinement and support of the framework bounding the mesh openings. This leads to coexisting suspended and supported nanoparticle layers exhibiting nematic and/or chiral nematic order. Optical microscopy combined with crossed polarizers indicate that the formation of the suspended films occurs via intermediate gelation or kinetic arrest of CNCs across the mesh's open areas. The formation of self‐standing, ultrathin films of CNCs with tunable optical properties, such as selective reflections in the visible range (structural color), is demonstrated by using the presented simple and scalable approach.     

Wrapping effect of secondary phases on the grains: increased corrosion resistance of Mg–Al alloys

The discrete secondary phases usually cause severe galvanic corrosion, thereby resulting in rapid degradation for Mg–Al alloys in orthopaedics application. In this study, CaO was introduced into Mg–Al–Zn (AZ61) alloy via selective laser melting (SLM) to ameliorate the characterisations of the secondary phases, with an aim to improve its corrosion behaviour. Results revealed that CaO reacted with Mg and Al in Mg–Al alloys during SLM, suppressing the formation of coarse Mg₁₇Al₁₂ phase and promoting the formation of (Mg, Al)₂Ca phase. Meanwhile, the rapid solidification during SLM promoted the homogeneous precipitation of the second phase. As a result, inert (Mg, Al)₂Ca phase homogeneously wrapped the Mg grains, which effectively protected them from the invasion of corrosion solution. Thus, the degradation rate was remarkably reduced from 0.073 to 0.031?mg?cm^–2?h^–1. Furthermore, AZ61-9CaO exhibited good cytocompatibility. This work suggested that AZ61-9CaO was promising candidates for orthopaedics implants.     

Effect of Powder Processing and Sintering Conditions on the Microstructural,Thermal, and Mechanical Properties of Reticulated Zinc Oxide Ceramic Foams

Ceramic foams are made of zinc oxide using different amounts of Sb₂O₃ and Bi₂O₃ as sintering aids. The effect of a ball milling processing of the starting powders and the sintering temperature on the microstructure and the properties of the ZnO foams is investigated. The focus is set on the evolution of the secondary phases formed within the microstructure of ZnO. A determining effect is identified in the amount of an Al₂O₃ impurity which is introduced by abrasion of the milling vessels during ball milling. Alumina is partially dissolved in a spinel α–Zn₇Sb₂O₁₂ secondary phase which is stabilized by a reduction of the unit cell volume. Remaining Al₂O₃ is incorporated into zinc oxide under formation of a defect wurtzite phase. The phase evolution is a complex function of the content of sintering aids, the Al₂O₃ impurity level and the sintering temperature. The shrinkage during sintering and the porosity evolution are correlated to the phase composition within the ZnO material. The thermal conductivity and the compressive strength of the foams are determined, normalized with respect to their porosity, and correlated to the microstructure and phase composition of the ZnO strut material.     

Thermal Expansion of Hybrid Chiral Mechanical Metamaterial with Patterned Bi-Strips

Hybrid chiral mechanical metamaterials with center squares connecting by bi-layer strips (bi-strips) with patterned interfaces are designed and fabricated via multimaterial 3D printing. Due to the thermal mismatch between the bi-strips and the chirality-induced rotation, the designs will undergo either thermal expansion or shrinkage under constant temperature increase, resulting in widely tuned overall thermal expansion coefficients (CTEs) for the chiral mechanical metamaterials. Analytical models of both the bi-strips with arbitrary dissimilar interface morphology and the chiral designs under temperature change are developed to predict the curvature of the bi-strips and the overall CTEs of the chiral designs. Two design regions with opposite trends are observed and explored. The models are verified via systematic finite element (FE) simulations and experiments on 3D-printed specimens. This investigation enlarges the design space of chiral mechanical metamaterials for achieving desired CTEs in a wide range.     

Recognition and analysis of cell nuclear phases for high-content screening based on morphological features

Automated analysis of molecular images has increasingly become an important research in computational life science. In this paper some new and efficient algorithms for recognizing and analyzing cell phases of high-content screening are presented. The conceptual frameworks are based on the morphological features of cell nuclei. The useful preprocessing includes: smooth following and linearization; extraction of morphological structural points; shape recognition based morphological structure; issue of touching cells for cell separation and reconstruction. Furthermore, the novel detecting and analyzing strategies of feed-forward and feed-back of cell phases are proposed based on gray feature, cell shape, geometrical features and difference information of corresponding neighbor frames. Experiment results tested the efficiency of the new method.     

Analysis of weight distribution strategies in unilateral transtibial amputees during the stand-to-sit activity.

Current methods of quantifying the stand-to-sit activity (StTS) are resource intensive and have not been applied to unilateral transtibial amputees (TTAs). The purpose of this study is to define five phases of arm-rest assisted and unassisted StTS using simple instrumentation and implement this method for assessing TTA movement patterns. Twelve TTAs and 12 age-matched non-amputees performed StTS with and without arm-rest support. Symmetry of weight distribution between lower limbs was calculated for five StTS phases: Descent Initiation; Descent Deceleration; Seat-Contact; Stabilisation and Sitting. TTAs demonstrated an asymmetrical weight distribution pattern and a tendency to transfer weight to the intact limb during the course of the activity. Non-amputees had relatively higher symmetry and did not exhibit substantial weight shifts during the activity. Symmetry indices were similar for assisted and unassisted sitting in both subject groups. These results highlight a need for therapeutic interventions in TTAs for reducing loading asymmetries and associated co-morbidities.     

Feedback control of nonlinear stochastic systems for targeting a specified stationary probability density

In the present paper, an innovative procedure for designing the feedback control of multi-degree-of-freedom (MDOF) nonlinear stochastic systems to target a specified stationary probability density function (SPDF) is proposed based on the technique for obtaining the exact stationary solutions of the dissipated Hamiltonian systems. First, the control problem is formulated as a controlled, dissipated Hamiltonian system together with a target SPDF. Then the controlled forces are split into a conservative part and a dissipative part. The conservative control forces are designed to make the controlled system and the target SPDF have the same Hamiltonian structure (mainly the integrability and resonance). The dissipative control forces are determined so that the target SPDF is the exact stationary solution of the controlled system. Five cases, i.e., non-integrable Hamiltonian systems, integrable and non-resonant Hamiltonian systems, integrable and resonant Hamiltonian systems, partially integrable and non-resonant Hamiltonian systems, and partially integrable and resonant Hamiltonian systems, are treated respectively. A method for proving that the transient solution of the controlled system approaches the target SPDF as t→∞ is introduced. Finally, an example is given to illustrate the efficacy of the proposed design procedure.     

脱氢枞酸的应用研究进展

综述了脱氢枞酸用于合成表面活性剂、具有生物活性的物质和手性催化剂,及其在抗老化、手性试剂拆分和在导电材料等方面的应用研究进展,并展望了其发展趋势。     

A FORMULA FOR THE INVERSE AUTOCORRELATION FUNCTION OF AN AUTOREGRESSIVE PROCESS

Abstract. The determination of the inverse autocorrelation function of a weakly stationary autoregressive process using the autocorrelation function is considered. Usually this is carried out either by using frequency domain methods or by solving first the parameters of the process and then using them. In this paper we give a simple formula by which the inverse autocorrelation function can be determined directly from the autocorrelation function.     

单纯手法复位与手法复位加敏使朗口服治疗良性阵发性位置性眩晕疗效分析

目的 比较单纯手法复 位 和 手 法 复 位 加 口 服 抗 眩 晕 药 治 疗 后 半 规 管 良 性 阵 发 性 位 置 性 眩 晕（PC ？BPP V ） 的疗效。方法 将2004 年1 月～2011 年6 月期间收治的236 例 BPP V 患 者 随 机 分 为 两 组, 对 照 组 112 例采用单纯手法复位, 治疗组124 例在手法复位基础上加敏使朗口服, 两组均于治疗后1 周和3 个月时复查, 比较其疗效。结果 治疗后1 周时, 对照组和治疗组的有效率分别为86 .61 % 和89 .52 % , 治疗后3 个月时对照组有效率92 .86 % （104／112 ） , 治疗组有效率为93 .54 % （116／124 ） , 两者比较差异均无统计学意义（P ＞0 .05 ） 。结论 单纯手法复位法和手法复位加口服抗眩晕药物治疗 BPP V 疗效相当。