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A comprehensive understanding of the diffusion coefficients and atomic mobilities in the Ti–Cr–Mo system is crucial for establishing an atomic mobility database for titanium-based high-strength titanium alloys. In the present work, nine sets of solid/solid diffusion couples were prepared and measured in bcc Ti–Cr–Mo alloys, with the temperatures ranging from 1373 to 1473 K. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and Electro Probe Micro-Analysis (EPMA) techniques were used to respectively test its microstructure and composition distance. The diffusion coefficients in bcc Ti–Cr–Mo alloys were determined using the Matano-Kirkaldy method and numerical inverse method respectively. The diffusion coefficients obtained from the above two methods exhibit good consistency. The atomic mobility parameters for the Ti–Cr–Mo systems were provided with the assistance of HitDIC software. A three-dimensional plot of interdiffusivities was generated for chromium and molybdenum contents ranging from 0 to 20 mol % and 0–14 mol %. Moreover, the application of the Arrhenius equation enabled the determination of changes in frequency factors and activation energies concerning temperature and composition.

The PIWI-interacting RNA (piRNA) pathway is an adaptive defense system wherein piRNAs guide PIWI family Argonaute proteins to recognize and silence ever-evolving selfish genetic elements and ensure genome integrity. Driven by this intensive host–pathogen arms race, the piRNA pathway and its targeted transposons have coevolved rapidly in a species-specific manner, but how the piRNA pathway adapts specifically to target silencing in mammals remains elusive. Here, we show that mouse MILI and human HILI piRNA-induced silencing complexes (piRISCs) bind and cleave targets more efficiently than their invertebrate counterparts from the sponge Ephydatia fluviatilis. The inherent functional differences comport with structural features identified by cryo-EM studies of piRISCs. In the absence of target, MILI and HILI piRISCs adopt a wider nucleic-acid-binding channel and display an extended prearranged piRNA seed as compared with EfPiwi piRISC, consistent with their ability to capture targets more efficiently than EfPiwi piRISC. In the presence of target, the seed gate—which enforces seed–target fidelity in microRNA RISC—adopts a relaxed state in mammalian piRISC, revealing how MILI and HILI tolerate seed–target mismatches to broaden the target spectrum. A vertebrate-specific lysine distorts the piRNA seed, shifting the trajectory of the piRNA–target duplex out of the central cleft and toward the PAZ lobe. Functional analyses reveal that this lysine promotes target binding and cleavage. Our study therefore provides a molecular basis for the piRNA targeting mechanism in mice and humans, and suggests that mammalian piRNA machinery can achieve broad target silencing using a limited supply of piRNA species.

The presence of magnesium and phosphorus in calcium carbonate-based biominerals is increasingly found. Both elements play a significant role in the biomineralization process of amorphous calcium carbonate (ACC). While extensive research has focused on the effects of their compositions, less attention is given to the influence of precursor solution concentrations, which is essential for unraveling the crystallization mechanism. Herein, taking amorphous magnesium calcium carbonate phosphate (MgACCP) (molar ratio of Ca2+/Mg2+/CO32–/PO43–fixed at 4:1:4:1) as the example, we report that the amorphous stability highly depends on the precursor solution concentrations. Moderate concentrations (0.04–0.6 M) lead to faster crystallization within a week and the production of bundled nanofibers. In more diluted solutions (0.01 M), the accumulation of Ca2+and CO32–at the boundaries of colloidal nanobubbles leads to hydration, which stabilizes ACC. Conversely, in more concentrated solutions, a greater amount of Mg2+in the homogeneous solution binds with water to preserve the amorphous state of MgACCP. The hydration level is determined to be a critical factor in determining the crystallization rate. These findings offer new insights into the crystallization mechanism and morphology control of bioceramics.

The ether-based electrolytes show excellent performance on anodes in sodium-ion batteries (SIBs), but they still show poor compatibility with the cathodes. Here, ether electrolytes with NaBF4as the main salt or additive were applied in NFM//HC full cells and showed enhanced performance than the electrolyte with NaPF6. Then, BF4–was found to have a stronger interaction with Na+, which could reduce the solvation of Na+with the solvent, thus inducing the formation of the cathode electrolyte interface (CEI) and solid electrolyte interface (SEI) layers rich in inorganic species. Moreover, the morphology, structure, composition, and solubility of CEI and SEI were explored, concluding that NaBF4could induce more stable CEI and SEI layers rich in B-containing species and inorganics. This work proposes using NaBF4as the main salt or additive to improve the performance of ether electrolytes in NFM//HC full cells, which provides a strategy to improve the compatibility of ether-based electrolytes and cathodes.

Ln‐IZO based target was employed to deposit as a channel layer in amorphous Ln‐In‐Zn‐O thin‐film transistors. Here, we use the carrier/barrier bilayer stacked AOS TFTs to improve the mobility and stability. High mobility Ln‐oxide is for better charge transport. The barrier layer is fine‐tuned for better reliability. After optimization of the stacked structure of the active layer and the parameters of the PV SiO2layer, the devices exhibited superior electric properties. The device shows high mobility (35.4 cm2/Vs) and small voltage shifts (1.1/‐1.5 V) of PBTS (positive bias temperature stress) and NBTIS (negative bias temperature illumination stress). We fabricated a 14 inch notebook liquid crystal display (LCD) with the Demux 1:3 circuit design using the high performance bilayer stacked TFTs.

The twin boundary, a common lattice plane of mirror-symmetric crystals, may have high reactivity due to special atomic coordination. However, twinning platinum and iridium nanocatalysts are grand challenges due to the high stacking fault energies that are nearly 1 order of magnitude larger than those of easy-twinning gold and silver. Here, we demonstrate that Turing structuring, realized by selective etching of superthin metal film, provides 14.3 and 18.9 times increases in twin-boundary densities for platinum and iridium nanonets, comparable to the highly twinned silver nanocatalysts. The Turing configurations with abundant low-coordination atoms contribute to the formation of nanotwins and create a large active surface area. Theoretical calculations reveal that the specific atom arrangement on the twin boundary changes the electronic structure and reduces the energy barrier of water dissociation. The optimal Turing-type platinum nanonets demonstrated excellent hydrogen-evolution-reaction performance with a 25.6 mV overpotential at 10.0 mA·cm–2and a 14.8-fold increase in mass activity. And the bifunctional Turing iridium catalysts integrated in the water electrolyzer had a mass activity 23.0 times that of commercial iridium catalysts. This work opens a new avenue for nanocrystal twinning as a facile paradigm for designing high-performance nanocatalysts.

A high calorie diet such as excessive fat and sucrose intake is always accompanied by impaired glucose homeostasis such as T2DM (type 2 diabetes mellitus). However, it remains unclear how fat and sucrose individually affect host glucose metabolism. In this study, mice were fed with high fat diet (HFD) or 30% sucrose in drinking water (HSD) for 24 weeks, and glucose metabolism, gut microbiota composition, as well as bile acid (BA) profile were investigated. In addition, the functional changes of HFD or HSD-induced gut microbiota were further verified by fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) and ex vivoculture of gut bacteria with BAs. Our results showed that both HFD and HSD caused dysregulated lipid metabolism, while HFD feeding had a more severe effect on impaired glucose homeostasis, accompanied by reduced hyocholic acid (HCA) levels in all studied tissues. Meanwhile, HFD had a more dramatic influence on composition and function of gut microbiota based on α diversity indices, β diversity analysis, as well as the abundance of secondary BA producers than HSD. In addition, the phenotypes of impaired glucose homeostasis and less formation of HCA caused by HFD can be transferred to recipient mice by FMT. Ex vivoculture with gut bacteria and BAs revealed HFD-altered gut bacteria produced less HCA than HSD, which might closely associate with reduced relative abundance of C7 epimerase-coding bacteria g_norank/unclassified_f_Eggerthellaceaeand bile salt hydrolase-producing bacteria Lactobacillusand Bifidobacteriumin HFD group. Our findings revealed that the divergent effects of different high-calorie diets on glucose metabolism may be due to the gut microbiota-mediated generation and metabolism of BAs, highlighting the importance of dietary management in T2DM.

The use of magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) with appropriate surface functionalization as markers in immunoassays for the detection of specific analytes, such as viruses, proteins, or antibodies, has received increased attention due to the recent pandemic. In combination with magnetic particle spectroscopy (MPS) as an evaluation method, this approach represents a promising alternative to the established testing methods. MPS measures the harmonics of the rotating MNPs, whose dynamics are the characteristics of their binding state. In this article, we discuss the development of the immunoMPS, an immunoassay-optimized as well as cost-effective MPS system, to take a big step toward higher sensitivity. To achieve this, simulations based on the Fokker-Planck equation were performed to optimize the excitation parameters for the used 80-nm-sized Bionized NanoFerrite particle system (BNF80), aiming at the detection of tiny changes in the MNP dynamics. The constructed immunoMPS only has material costs of 350 € in total, and it is mobile and self-contained and, therefore, can be used in S2+ biosafety laboratories. Despite its low price, it can detect down to 40.6-ng iron with BNF80 MNPs. The high performance of the instrument is further illustrated by our magnetic immunoassays (MIAs) with a significantly improved limit of detection (LOD) of $3\times 10^{8}$ viruses/mL (552 fM, 33.1 amole) for the detection of mimic SARS-CoV-2. This is an improvement of about two orders of magnitude compared with previous results reported in this research topic.

The performance of the image reconstruction method is crucial in magnetic particle imaging (MPI) as it helps transform the raw signal data into a quantitative representation of the nanoparticle distribution within the imaging area. In this study, an image reconstruction method based on sparse representation and deep learning (SR-DL) is proposed to solve the inverse problem of MPI and obtain high-quality MPI images. The sparse-representation (SR) method we proposed earlier is used to obtain the initial MPI image. Then the residual encoder-decoder convolutional neural network (RED-CNN) structure is constructed to enhance the initially reconstructed image. A fast dataset generation method is proposed by combining the simulated phantom, measured system matrix, and measured noise data, which can be easily ported to other MPI systems. Numerical simulations are carried out to evaluate the performance of the proposed method based on different loss functions. Furthermore, phantom experiments are conducted using a custom-built narrowband MPI scanner with a gradient of 1.1 T/m in $x$ - and $y$ -directions to assess the feasibility of the SR-DL method. Compared with the SR method, the SR-DL method improves the spatial resolution from 0.5 to 0.3 mm in the $x$ -direction and from 1.2 to 0.8 mm in the $y$ -direction and reduces the artifacts. We envisage that the SR-DL method is significant to improve the image quality and reduce the hardware consumption of MPI.

The efficient separation of hexane isomers from the light naphtha fraction is a significant challenge in the petrochemical industry. 5A zeolite adsorbent is used commercially to sieve alkane isomers. In this study, 5A zeolites were synthesized using a low-cost natural clay mineral precursor, i.e. palygorskite (PAL), with the addition of crystallization directing agent (CDA). By varying the mass ratio of CDA/deionized water, 5A zeolites were obtained as CDA-5%, CDA-7.5%, and CDA-10%. All products were submicron particles with an average particle size of 400–800 nm. A sieving test of CDA-induced 5A zeolites was carried out on hexane adsorbates including n-hexane (nHEX), 2-methylpentane (2MP), and 3-methylpentane (3MP). According to vapor-phase batch adsorption experiments, a significant equilibrium amount (0.149 g/g) of nHEX and only 0.0321 g/g 2MP and 0.0416 g/g 3MP were adsorbed on the 5A zeolite product with CDA-5%. The dynamic adsorption performance of 5A zeolite (CDA-5%) was evaluated by breakthrough curves of binary mixtures of nHEX/2MP and nHEX/3MP. Palygorskite 5A (PAL 5A) zeolite achieved maximum dynamic adsorption capacities of nHEX (0.16 g/g in both cases) at 200°C and 1.2 MPa total pressure. This work provided an economic alternative for the synthesis of 5A zeolites using natural clay minerals instead of chemical raw materials.

Magnetic particle imaging (MPI) is an emerging medical imaging technique that measures the nonlinear magnetization response of magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs). The image reconstruction of MPI is to solve the unknown spatial distribution of MNPs from the measured magnetic response signal, which plays a significant role in MPI. In this study, a sparse-representation-based image reconstruction method is proposed to improve the spatial resolution and reduce the artifacts of MPI images. In the proposed method, the spatial distribution of MNPs is sparsely represented by the Gaussian radial basis functions (GRBFs). The inverse problem in MPI is consequently transformed to obtain the optimal weight coefficient vector of the GRBFs. It helps to reduce the number of unknowns to be reconstructed and improve the robustness of the image reconstruction process. By incorporating the prior knowledge from the preliminary reconstructed images, the center points of the GRBFs are selected densely in the target area and sparsely outside to further reduce the dimension of the system matrix and the artifacts. Numerical simulations are performed to optimize the key parameters in the proposed method. Furthermore, phantom experiments are carried out using a single-harmonic-based narrowband MPI scanner to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed method. Experimental results show that the proposed method improves the spatial resolution from 0.5 to 0.3 mm and reduces the artifacts compared with the algebraic reconstruction technique (ART) method and the Newton-Raphson method. We envisage that the proposed method is of great significance to biomedical applications for MPI.

In order to solve the problems of poor seismic performance of special-shaped column structure of residential buildings after traditional optimisation methods, a seismic performance optimisation method of special-shaped column structure of residential buildings based on BIM technology is proposed. Building visual information base model is constructed by BIM technology. The variation of the parameters of special-shaped column structure in residential buildings is analysed. Then, considering the economic benefits of the special-shaped structure of residential buildings, a comprehensive two-way driving structure is built. The displacement parameters of the special-shaped structure of residential buildings are obtained, and then its multi-degree of freedom system and equivalent single degree of freedom are analysed. Upon determining the displacement degree of the special-shaped column structure of residential buildings, the optimisation of the special-shaped column structure of residential buildings is completed. The results show that the maximum displacement curvature ductility coefficient is about 4.5 and variation range of energy dissipation coefficient is 0.03~0.04.

Owing to its high stability, suitable absorption band gap, and fast response time, MoSe2has attracted the most attention in transition-metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) for photodetector (PD) applications. In this study, based on centimeter-scale smooth amorphous MoSe2(a-MoSe2) thin films with thicknesses varying from 6.5 to 62.5 nm on a-SiO2/Si substrates prepared by polymer-assisted deposition, metal–semiconductor–metal-structured self-powered a-MoSe2PDs are designed and fabricated. Our data show that the PD based on 9.5 nm thick a-MoSe2thin film exhibits the highest values of photocurrent (Iph, 4.60 μA), photo-to-dark current ratio (PDCR, 3067), photoresponsivity (Rλ, 0.94 mA/W), and detectivity (D*, 4.29 × 1010Jones), as well as the lowest values of noise-equivalent power (NEP, 2.33 × 10–11W/Hz1/2) and photoresponse rise/decay time (61/58 ms) under a 405 nm laser with 5 mW power at zero bias, which are better than or comparable with those of previously reported PDs based on crystalline MoSe2monolayers or other atomically thin 2D materials under bias voltage. The high-performance mechanism can be explained in terms of the energy band theory and volume modulation photoconductive gain model in a-MoSe2with a spontaneous built-in electric field. Our work provides a scalable low-cost way for the design and fabrication of high-performance self-powered TMDC PDs.

Abstract

In view of the magnetically actuated capsule robot applications in diagnoses of human stomach disease, the challenges that are associated with degrees-of-freedom (DOF), environmental adaptability, and the size of the entire system must be addressed. In this study, a new electromagnetic coil system that is based on adaptive magnetic levitation is presented; it is mainly composed of an independent orientation control electromagnetic coil and a magnetic levitation control electromagnetic coil. The system is designed to perform motion control of the capsule, including 3-DOF levitating translational motion control, and pitch and yaw motion control in levitation. In this manner, it compensates for the lack of previous magnetic levitation systems that were based on electromagnetic coils for the control of the tilt angle of the capsule. With torque-based actuation control, the tilt angle of the capsule can be controlled continuously with an angle increment of no more than 2° (within 30°) during levitation. The capsule under the magnetic levitation control, which is based on the fuzzy proportional-integral -derivative controller, can maintain the stability of levitation; the error between the actual capsule position and the required position did not exceed 0.1 mm when the capsule was out of water or completely immersed in it. Moreover, the experiment of the capsule levitating from air to water further verifies the adaptability of the system with regard to the environment; this provides a new examination method for capsule endoscopy. Note to Practitioners—This work is caused by the motion manipulation problem of a magnetically driven capsule robot. Most of the existing magnetically driven capsule robots use a rolling or sliding method that fits tightly against the stomach wall, and these forms of motion make it possible to risk missing diagnoses in the examination of gastric diseases, and the maneuverability limits its further application. This paper proposes an adaptive control strategy for a magnetically driven capsule robot based on magnetic levitation motion. It allows the magnetically driven capsule robot to levitate to any position in the stomach for photography and observation without external mechanical support, and this levitation motion is sufficiently stable. In addition, the proposed capsule robot has independent orientation and position control, which has the potential to achieve automated inspection.

Fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) composites are considered suitable candidates for structural materials of spacecrafts due to their excellent properties of high strength, light weight, and corrosion resistance. An online health monitoring method for FRP composites must be applied to space structures. However, the application of existing health monitoring methods to space structures is limited due to the harsh space environment. Here, carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) composites embedded with fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensors were prepared to explore the feasibility of strain monitoring using embedded FBG sensors in γ-radiation environment. The analysis of the influence of radiation on the strain monitoring demonstrated that the embedded FBG can be successfully applied to the health monitoring of FRP composites in radiation environment.

This study evaluated the diagnostic value of artificial intelligence‐assistant diagnostic system combined with contrast‐enhanced ultrasound in The American College of Radiology Thyroid Imaging, Reporting and Data System (ACR TI‐RADS) 4 category thyroid nodules. Thyroid nodules that were evaluated as ACR TI‐RADS 4 by conventional ultrasound were selected, all of which had pathological or fine needle aspiration (FNA) results. All nodules were examined by contrast‐enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) and artificial intelligence (AI) analysis. The sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, positive predictive value (PPV) and negative predictive value (NPV) of AI, CEUS and their combined diagnosis were compared; Analyzed and compared the diagnostic efficiency of AI, CEUS and their combined diagnosis. A total of 148 thyroid nodules were included in 140 patients, including 58 malignant nodules and 89 benign nodules. The sensitivity of combined diagnosis was significantly higher than that of AI or CEUS alone (P< .05). The NPV of AI, CEUS and combined diagnosis were statistically significant (P< .05). There was no significant difference in the diagnostic efficacy between AI and CEUS (P> .05), but there was a significant difference in NPV between AI and combined diagnosis (P< .05). The AUC of the combined diagnosis was 0.859, which was higher than that of AI, CEUS alone. AI has a high diagnostic efficiency, which was helpful for radiologists to make rapid assessment. AI combined CEUS can significantly improve the diagnostic sensitivity and NPV, which was beneficial for the early detection of malignant nodules.

The Gibbs–Thomson (GT) equation finds that the shift in the freezing/melting temperature under confinement with respect to its bulk counterpart is inversely proportional to the pore size. This century old relation successfully elaborates the freezing experiments of many fluids (e.g., water, molten salt), while it fails in quantitatively predicting the phase stability of the nonstoichoimetric crystals (e.g., gas hydrates). Based only on the crystal/liquid coexistence, we here revisit the GT equation to treat the multicomponent compounds within a slit confined geometry. In addition to the interfacial energy contribution, the extended GT equation accounts for the excess free energies associated with the composition variations upon the freezing/melting transition. Using the direct coexisting method (DCM), we first probe the melting temperatures of a face-centered cubic (fcc) crystal confined in slit pores as well as its bulk counterpart. The melting temperature under confinement is shown to be depressed compared to the bulk. We then turn to estimate the parameters entering the GT equation using several independent molecular simulations. The melting temperature depression observed in the DCM simulations is found to be well described by the GT equation if used with accurate estimates of the pore/crystal and pore/liquid interfacial tensions. Finally, using the above molecular modeling strategies, we show that the GT equation with the composition correction successfully predicts the shifted melting temperature of methane hydrate confined in porous solids. For such nonstoichoimetric compounds under confinement, accounting for the composition effects is of utmost importance as it exhibits a non-negligible contribution to the GT description. The extended GT equation can be expected to investigate the capillary freezing of the nonstoichoimetric compound in nanopores and to provide a better understanding of the pore body.

Highly conductive concrete/mortar has been long pursued to realize structural health monitoring in the development of smart-cement-based facilities. However, it remains challenging to significantly increase the electrical conductivity of concrete/mortar without lowering the compressive strength and flowability. Here, nanocrystalline-graphene-coated aggregates (termed Gr@AGs) are synthesized to break this conductivity–strength tradeoff. Admixing Gr@AGs with cement enables the construction of a conductive network of graphene that simultaneously strengthens the interfacial transition zone between aggregates and paste. As a result, high conductivity and improved mechanical properties have been simultaneously realized in Gr@AGs-based smart mortars. The significant positive effects of Gr@AGs are further enhanced by combining them with a low percentage of carbon fiber. Typically, the 28-day compressive/flexural strength of the optimized mortar increases by 12.2%/19.4%, with the electrical resistivity reduced by over 3 orders of magnitude from ∼4.6 × 105to 182 Ω cm. On this basis, we demonstrate high-sensitivity cement-based piezoresistive sensors with a fractional change in resistivity as high as ∼25%, which is more than 1 order of magnitude higher than those reported in comparable systems. This study provides a solution to the critical issues in developing smart cementitious composites by taking full advantage of graphene’s properties.

The immunotherapeutic effect elicited by photodynamic therapy (PDT) is attenuated by tumor defense mechanisms associated with glutamine metabolism, including the metabolic regulation of redox homeostasis and the limitation of the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment (ITM). Herein, a carrier-free immunotherapeutic nanobooster C9SN with dual synergistic effects was constructed by the self-assembly of glutaminase (GLS) inhibitor compound 968 (C968) and photosensitizer Chlorin e6. C968-mediated GSH deprivation through inhibiting glutamine metabolism prevented PDT-generated reactive oxygen species from being annihilated by GSH, amplifying intracellular oxidative stress, which caused severe cell death and also enhanced the immunogenic cell death (ICD) effect. In addition, genome-wide analysis was carried out using RNA-sequencing to evaluate the changes in cell transcriptome induced by amplifying oxidative stress. Thereafter, neoantigens generated by the enhanced ICD effect promoted the maturation of dendritic cells, thereby recruiting and activating cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs). Meanwhile, C9SN remodeled the ITM by blocking glutamine metabolism to polarize M2-type tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) into M1-type TAMs, which further recruited and activated the CTLs. Ultimately, this immunotherapeutic nanobooster suppressed primary and distant tumors. This “kill two birds with one stone” strategy would shed light on enhancing tumor immunogenicity and alleviating tumor immunosuppression to improve the immunotherapeutic effect of PDT.

Protein aggregation has been found in a wide range of neurodegenerative protein-misfolding diseases. The demand for in vivo technologies to identify protein aggregation is at the leading edge for the pathogenic study, diagnostic development, and therapeutic intervention of these devastating disorders. Herein, we report a series of luminol analogues to construct a facile chemiluminescence (CL)-based approach for in vivo detection and imaging of β-sheet protein aggregates. The synthesized compounds exhibited a distinct chemiluminescent response with long emission wavelengths toward reactive oxygen species under physiological conditions and displayed signal amplification in the presence of β-sheet protein aggregates, including α-synuclein, β-amyloid, and tau. Among them, CyLumi-3was further evaluated as a chemiluminescent probe in preclinical models. By intravenous administration into the model mice via the tail vein, in vivo CL imaging noninvasively detected the specific CL of the probe targeting the α-synuclein aggregates in the brains of living mice. Based on its structural characteristics, CyLumi-3can readily interact with α-synuclein aggregates with significantly enhanced fluorescence and can identify α-synuclein aggregates in vivo via distinctive CL amplification, which could pave the way for a more comprehensive understanding of protein aggregation in preclinical studies and would provide new hints for developing small-molecule chemiluminophores for protein aggregates.

• A CALPHAD model for isotropic interfacial energies was developed and programmed. • Direct coupling between interfacial energy model and phase-field model was realized. • Isotropic interfacial energy databases in Ni–Al–Cr systems were established. • 3-D phase-field simulations of γ dendritic growth in two Ni alloys were conducted. • Effect of different interfacial energies on γ dendritic growth was analyzed. In this work, a novel computational model for the description of the temperature- and composition-dependent isotropic interfacial energy in multicomponent alloys was first developed in the framework of the CALculation of PHAse Diagram (CALPHAD) approach and implemented in a home-made code. By linking to the open-source code for interfacial energy calculation in alloys, OpenIEC, the databases for isotropic γ /liquid and γ / γ' interfacial energies in Ni–Al, Ni–Cr, Al–Cr, and Ni–Al–Cr systems were then efficiently established. After that, a direct coupling strategy between the current CALPHAD interfacial energy database and the phase-field model with finite interface dissipation was proposed and applied to three-dimensional (3-D) phase-field simulations of the primary γ dendritic growth in both Ni–Al and Ni–Al–Cr alloys during isothermal solidification. The effect of the interfacial energy on the morphology, tip growth rate, and partitioning coefficients in primary γ dendrites of binary Ni–Al and ternary Ni–Al–Cr alloys was investigated by comprehensively comparing the phase-filed simulation results using the composition-/temperature-dependent interfacial energies with those using the constant value. It is anticipated that the presently developed CALPHAD model for interfacial energy is of general validity for different multicomponent alloys and should be integrated with the phase-field model for quantitative simulation of their microstructure evolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Magnetic particle imaging (MPI) is an innovative molecular imaging technique with remarkable sensitivity and temporal–spatial resolution. It employs superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) as tracers to precisely locate lesions in quantitative imaging. In practical, the induced signal of the receiver coil contains both the SPIONs magnetization signal and the excitation feed-through signal. Due to the high amplitude of the latter, extracting the SPIONs signal from the induced signal is a challenging task. In this study, a two-stage compensation strategy was proposed to suppress excitation feed-through signal. Firstly, we used a three-stage gradiometer coil to suppress part of the feed-through signal. Secondly, different from using the band-stop filters in most previous studies, we proposed a modulation compensation strategy that the received signal from the first stage and a modulation signal were input to the differential circuit at the same time, and the feed-through signal can be suppressed by actively adjusting the modulation signal. In addition, we presented a 3-D MPI system with a simple and effective structure. Permanent magnets were used to generate gradient fields, and the two-stage compensation strategy was employed at the receiving chain. Experimental results showed that the proposed compensation strategy can obviously suppress the excitation feed-through signal, which allows to achieve a high resolution and sensitivity imaging with the proposed 3-D MPI system.

Orthopedic insoles is the most commonly used nonsurgical treatment method for the flatfoot. Polyurethane (PU) plays a crucial role in the manufacturing of orthopedic insoles due to its high wear resistance and elastic recovery. However, preparing orthopedic insoles with adjustable hardness, high-accuracy, and matches the plantar morphology is challenging. Herein, a liquid crystal display (LCD) three-dimensional (3D) printer was used to prepare the customized arch-support insoles based on photo-curable and elastic polyurethane acrylate (PUA) composite resins. Two kinds of photo-curable polyurethanes (DL1000-PUA and DL2000-PUA) were successfully synthesized, and a series of fast-photocuring polyurethane acrylate (PUA) composite resins for photo-polymerization 3D printing were developed. The effects of different acrylate monomers on the Shore hardness, viscosity, and mechanical properties of the PUA composite resins were evaluated. The PUA-3-1 composite resin exhibited low viscosity, optimal hardness, and mechanical properties. A deviation analysis was conducted to assess the accuracy of printed insole. Furthermore, the stress conditions of the PUA composite resin and ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) under the weight load of healthy adults were compared by finite element analysis (FEA) simulation. The results demonstrated that the stress of the PUA composite resin and EVA were 0.152 MPa and 0.285 MPa, and displacement were 0.051 mm and 3.449 mm, respectively. These results indicate that 3D-printed arch-support insole based on photocurable PUA composite resin are high-accuracy, and can reduce plantar pressure and prevent insoles premature deformation, which show great potential in the physiotherapeutic intervention for foot disorders.

Solvent-resistant nanofiltration (SRNF) membranes have excellent applications in wastewater treatment, such as organic solvent recovery and water purification. However, the high performance with high solvent permeability passing through the membrane is still a big challenge. We prepared polyimide (PI) SRNF membranes with highly efficient oriented nanochannels via vacuum-assisted interfacial polymerization and magnetic field arraying magnetized functionalized multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs). This prepared composite membrane got a molecular weight cutoff of around 600–800 Da, significantly improving the permeability but no change in rejection performance. When MWCNTs were magnetically oriented, the permeability raised from 7.8 to 15.9 L/m−2h−1bar−1, which was 103% higher than that of the non-arrayed composited membrane. The stability test illustrated that the permeability rose slightly, but the rejection rate of the CaSO4solution was kept at 92–94% after being immersed in polar organic solvents for 48 h. This work aimed to design an innovative method for preparing a high-performance SRNF membrane that introduced an arranged nanochannel.

Objective: Magnetic particle imaging (MPI) is a promising medical modality that can image superparamagnetic iron-oxide nanoparticle (SPIO) concentration distributions safely and with high sensitivity. In the x-space reconstruction algorithm, the Langevin function is inaccurate in modeling the dynamic magnetization of SPIOs. This problem prevents the x-space algorithm from achieving a high spatial resolution reconstruction. Methods: We propose a more accurate model to describe the dynamic magnetization of SPIOs, named the modified Jiles–Atherton (MJA) model, and apply it to the x-space algorithm to improve the image resolution. Considering the relaxation effect of SPIOs, the MJA model generates the magnetization curve via an ordinary differential equation. Three modifications are also introduced to further improve its accuracy and robustness. Results: In magnetic particle spectrometry experiments, the MJA model shows higher accuracy than the Langevin and Debye models under various test conditions. The average root-mean-square error is 0.055, 83% and 58% lower than the Langevin and Debye models, respectively. In MPI reconstruction experiments, the MJA x-space improves the spatial resolution by 64% and 48% compared to the x-space and Debye x-space methods, respectively. Conclusion: The MJA model shows high accuracy and robustness in modeling the dynamic magnetization behavior of SPIOs. By integrating the MJA model into the x-space algorithm, the spatial resolution of MPI technology was improved. Significance: Improving the spatial resolution by using the MJA model helps MPI have a better performance in medical fields, including cardiovascular imaging.

Graphical abstract: