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Charge density waves (CDWs) are pervasive orders in solids that usually enhance the effective mass (m*) and reduce the Fermi velocity ( v F ) of carriers. Here, we report on the inverse — a reduced m* and an enhanced v F correlated with the growth of the CDW order in CuTe with gapped, practically linearly dispersing bands — reminiscent of emergent CDW-gapped topological semimetals. Using momentum-dependent electron energy-loss spectroscopy (q-EELS), we simultaneously capture m* and v F of the CDW-related, practically linearly dispersing electrons by plasmon dispersions across the transition (335 K, TCDW), with m* of 0.28 m0 (m0, the electron rest mass) and v F of ~ 0.005c (c, the speed of light) at 300 K. With the growth of the CDW order-parameter strength toward 100 K, the electrons become lighter and move faster by ~ 20%. Thorough inspection below TCDW unveils the essential role of the increasing opening of the CDW gap. CuTe is a rich platform for the exploration of CDW/correlation physics with q-EELS established as a useful probe for this type of physics. Charge density waves usually cause electrons to become heavier and slow down. Here, the authors find the opposite is true in CuTe and study the phenomenon using advanced q-EELS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, effects of B addition on the sintering densification, microstructure, hardness, friction and wear properties of sintered Fe-2.4C-4Cr-1Mo-0.5P-0.7Si-2.5Cu (in wt%) were investigated. In spite of the decreased sintered density, the addition of B changes the phase composition of the materials and their ratio. Moreover, hardness of either the matrix or the liquid solidification structure dramatically increases. These changes in microstructure result in higher friction coefficient and lower wear loss. It is observed that the addition of 0.1 wt%B offers the optimum friction and wear properties with a running-in period of only 30 s and wear volume loss of 0.006 mm3 under the testing conditions. Such friction and wear properties are superior to those of the other two widely used cam materials, cast iron and 45 steel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Decalcified bone matrix (DBM) is a widely used alternative material for bone transplantation. In the DBM production process, an effective particle size and the highest utilization rate of raw materials can be achieved only through multiple high-speed circulating comminution. The rat posterolateral lumbar fusion model (PLF) is the most mature small animal model for the initial evaluation of the efficacy of graft materials for bone regeneration and spinal fusion. To evaluate the differences in the in vivo osteogenic effects of DBM pulverization through 1, 5, 9, and 14 high-speed cycles, sixty athymic rats were divided into six groups: single cycling crushing (CC1), 5 cycles of crushing (CC5), 9 cycles of crushing (CC9), 13 cycles of crushing (CC13), autogenous bone graft (ABG) and negative control (NC). Posterolateral lumbar fusion was performed. Six weeks after surgery, the bilateral lumbar fusion of athymic rats was evaluated through manual palpation, X-ray, micro-CT and histological sections. Rank data were tested by the rank-sum test, and nonparametric data were tested by the Kruskal‒Wallis H test. The manual palpation and X-ray results showed that the fusion rate did not significantly differ between the CC1, CC5, CC9, CC13 and ABG groups. However, cavities appeared in CC9 and CC13 on the micro-CT image. The bone mass (BV/TV) of CC1, CC5, CC9 and CC13 was better than that of the ABG group, while almost no osteogenesis was observed in the NC group. Histologically, there was no obvious difference between the four groups except that the CC9 group and CC13 group had more fibrous tissues in the new bone. In conclusion, DMB with different cycling crushing times has no obvious difference in fusion rate of PLF, but it is slightly better than the ABG group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Ni–Fe–TiO2 overlayers on mild steel strips were prepared by electrochemical deposition. The layers were characterized morphologically by confocal laser scanning microscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) coupled with energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) analysis. The layers exhibit a quasi-three-dimensional (3D) morphology in which the crystalline, TiO2, is embedded. Electrocatalytic activity of the Ni–Fe–TiO2 layers for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) was assessed by using pseudo-steady-state polarization curves and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) in alkaline solution. The results were compared with the properties of Ni–Fe electrodes and used for determining the mechanism and kinetics of HER. In comparison with Ni–Fe electrodes, the synthesized Ni–Fe–TiO2 electrodes present higher catalytic activity for HER due to the increase in the real surface area and high intrinsic electrocatalytic activity of titanium dioxide. The present study provides valuable insight for exploring practical applications of Ni-based alloys as hydrogen evolution electrodes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Poly‐ADP‐ribose polymerase (PARP) inhibitors (PARPi) have shown great promise for treating BRCA‐deficient tumors. However, over 40% of BRCA‐deficient patients fail to respond to PARPi. Here, we report that thioparib, a next‐generation PARPi with high affinity against multiple PARPs, including PARP1, PARP2, and PARP7, displays high antitumor activities against PARPi‐sensitive and ‐resistant cells with homologous recombination (HR) deficiency both in vitro and in vivo. Thioparib treatment elicited PARP1‐dependent DNA damage and replication stress, causing S‐phase arrest and apoptosis. Conversely, thioparib strongly inhibited HR‐mediated DNA repair while increasing RAD51 foci formation. Notably, the on‐target inhibition of PARP7 by thioparib‐activated STING/TBK1‐dependent phosphorylation of STAT1, triggered a strong induction of type I interferons (IFNs), and resulted in tumor growth retardation in an immunocompetent mouse model. However, the inhibitory effect of thioparib on tumor growth was more pronounced in PARP1 knockout mice, suggesting that a specific PARP7 inhibitor, rather than a pan inhibitor such as thioparib, would be more relevant for clinical applications. Finally, genome‐scale CRISPR screening identified PARP1 and MCRS1 as genes capable of modulating thioparib sensitivity. Taken together, thioparib, a next‐generation PARPi acting on both DNA damage response and antitumor immunity, serves as a therapeutic potential for treating hyperactive HR tumors, including those resistant to earlier‐generation PARPi. Synopsis: PARP inhibitors (PARPi) resistance is ubiquitous in the clinic. A newly discovered pan‐PARP inhibitor, thioparib, is highly effective against olaparib‐resistant cancer models, which suggests that therapeutic vulnerabilities still exist in PARPi‐resistant tumors. Thioparib is a novel, potent, and orally bioavailable pan‐PARP inhibitor.Thioparib overcomes primary and acquired olaparib resistance in vitro and in vivo.Thioparib suppresses HR‐mediated DNA repair.Thioparib induces a robust type I interferon response. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An equiatomic refractory high-entropy alloy (RHEA) NbMoTaWRe is prepared by mechanical alloying (MA) and spark plasma sintering (SPS). The effects of mechanical alloying and sintering behaviors on the microstructure and properties of the RHEA are investigated. After ball-milling for 30 h, the metastable and supersaturated MA powders with the body-centered cubic (BCC) structure are obtained. Then, the MA powders are sintered using the SPS method under the sintering temperature range of 1700–1900 °C, and the C atoms and WC introduced by the MA process reacts with the metastable and supersaturated Ta/Nb phase of the MA powers to form the face-centered cubic (FCC) structure (Nb, Ta)C particles along the BCC matrix boundaries during the SPS process. The NbMoTaWRe alloy sintered at 1800 °C consisted of BCC matrix and FCC-type (Nb, Ta)C particles has high compactness (porosity fraction is 0.32%), fracture strength (2630 MPa), plastic strain (6.82%), and hardness (992 ± 20 HV). These excellent properties of this RHEA are mainly attributed to the combination of multi-effects, including sintering densification, grain refinement strengthening from the refined sizes (3.80 μm) BCC matrix, precipitation strengthening from the (Nb, Ta)C particles, solid solution strengthening from multi-principal elements and interstitial solid solution strengthening from C atoms dissolving into BCC matrix. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a new Fe-based superalloy, the 05Cr14Ni33Ti3Al2MoNb is a nickel-saving valve alloy developed for exhaust valve in internal combustion engine. The scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, x-ray diffractometry and quantitative analysis of precipitated phase were adopted to investigate the morphology of γ' phase and the evolution kinetics during the long-term aging at high temperature. The results show that the γ' phase in 05Cr14Ni33Ti3Al2MoNb alloy has two forms, sphere and cell. The formation of cellular is a discontinuous precipitation with the nucleation on grain boundaries. The growing process of the cellular γ' phase is controlled by the diffusion of alloy elements. After long-term aging at high temperature, the fiber of cellular γ' phase near the front edge of new phase is thick, while that far away from the front edge of new phase is thin. The chemical formula of γ' phase in the alloy is (Ni, Fe, Cr, Mo)3(Ti, Al, Nb), in which the content of Mo and Cr are trace. After aging 2000 h at 700 °C, the γ' phase is basically stable in both quantity and dimension, and the evolution kinetics of γ' phase conforms to the Ostwald ripening mechanism. This alloy has the highest strength after aging 1000 h at 700 °C when the average particle diameter of phase γ' is 31.84 nm. At this time, the strengthening mechanism of the alloy conforms to the Orowan mechanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this simulation work, the linearized Bregman iterative algorithm was applied to solve the magnetic source distribution problem of a magnetic particle imaging (MPI) system for small animals. MPI system can apply an excitation magnetic field, and the induced magnetic field from the magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) can be detected by the sensors of MPI system. With a gaussian distribution source at the upper side of the mouse brain, sensors set above the mouse brain and the constant excitation magnetic field, the average deviation of the calculated source distribution from the multiplane scanning along the axis away from the mouse brain and the closest plane scanning are 2.78 × 10–3 and 2.84 × 10–3 respectively. The simulated result showed that combination of multiplane scanning hardly improves the accuracy of the source localization. In addition, a gradient scan method was developed that uses gradient magnetic field to scan the mouse brain. The position of the maximum of the lead field matrix will be controlled by the gradient field. With a set up gaussian distribution source at the bottom of the mouse brain, the average deviation of the calculated source distribution from the gradient scan method and the constant field are 4.42 × 10–2 and 5.05 × 10–2. The location error from the two method are 2.24 × 10–1 cm and 3.61 × 10–1 cm. The simulation showed that this method can improve the accuracy compared to constant field when the source is away from the sensor and having a potential for application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A congruence on an inverse semigroup S is determined uniquely by its kernel and trace. Denoting by ρ k and ρ t the least congruence on S having the same kernel and the same trace as ρ , respectively, and denoting by ω the universal congruence on S, we consider the sequence ω , ω k , ω t , (ω k) t , (ω t) k , ((ω k) t) k , ((ω t) k) t , ... . The quotients { S / ω k } , { S / ω t } , { S / (ω k) t } , { S / (ω t) k } , { S / ((ω k) t) k } , { S / ((ω t) k) t } , ... , as S runs over all inverse semigroups, form quasivarieties. This article explores the relationships among these quasivarieties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper enriches the list of known properties of congruence sequences starting from the universal relation and successively performing the operators lower k and lower t. Two series of inverse semigroups, namely ker α n -is-Clifford semigroups and β n -is-over-E-unitary semigroups, are investigated. Two congruences, namely α n + 2 and β n + 2 , are found to be the least ker α n -is-Clifford and least β n -is-over-E-unitary congruences on S, respectively. A new system of implications is established for the quasivarieties of inverse semigroups induced by the min network. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness and safety of Chinese herbs in the treatment of sub-health systematically. Methods: Nine databases were systematically and extensively searched to collect randomized controlled trials (RCTs) about Chinese herbs in the treatment of sub-health. The outcomes included overall effective rate, main symptoms, quality of life, etc. Literature screening, data extraction and quality assessment were conducted according to Cochrane Handbook 5.1. Meta-analysis was conducted to the included literature with Review Manager Software. Results: Seventy-two studies involving 9,296 patients with sub-health were included with 4,908 patients in experimental groups and 4,387 patients in control groups. The overall quality of included clinical research was not high. In the aspect of improving overall effective rate, relieving main symptoms, Pittsburgh sleep quality index (PSQI) score, Athens Insomnia Scale (AIS) score, Fatigue Scale-14 (FS-14), Cornell Medical Index (CMI) score and discontinuation rate, the effects of experimental groups were better than that of control groups. According to available research reports, adverse reactions in Chinese herb groups were mainly mild gastrointestinal symptoms, which did not affect the treatment. Conclusion: Chinese herbs have a curative effect in the treatment of sub-health. However, there are no clear criteria for diagnosis and curative effectiveness judgment globally, which would affect the accuracy of curative effect evaluation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The crystallization kinetics of the newly developed (GaTe)(SnTe) ( x = 32, 34, 36 mol%) chalcogenide glasses were investigated by differential scanning calorimetry under non-isothermal conditions. The kinetic parameters such as activation energies and Avrami exponents were determined using Kissinger, Ozawa, Augis-Bennett, and Matusita-Sakka methods. The thermal stability is evaluated and consistency is suggested for various criteria. The thermal stability of these glasses was evaluated by various criteria, revealing the relatively higher stability of the (GaTe)(SnTe) sample. The analyses of the crystallization phases by X-ray diffraction upon annealing suggest that the SnTe crystalline phase can be effectively controlled and independently precipitated from the glass matrix, generating promising thermoelectric glass-ceramic materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Factors leading to the formation of a hexahydroaporphine-like cyclizing side product were studied systematically for the first time and the ratio of this side product was controlled effectively. To understand better the electronic effect of substrates on the formation of side products, different 1-benzyloctahydroisoquinolines with substituted groups on nitrogen or benzene ring were compared. A plausible mechanism of cyclizing reaction was proposed, and key intermediates as well as transition states were analyzed using DFT calculations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Haemophilus influenzae, Streptococcus pyogenes, Moraxella catarrhalis, Staphylococcus aureus, and Streptococcus pneumoniae are usual cause of upper respiratory tract infection cases. The present study aims the isolation of bacterial strains which are resistant to the commonly prescribed antibiotics. In total, 900 throat swabs were obtained from the patients suffering from upper respiratory tract infections residing in three different localities. The maximum number of isolates (64 %) were obtained from locality-1 (L-1), whereas lowest isolates were found in second locality (L-2). H. influenzae was found to be the most dominant bacterial pathogen in upper respiratory tract infections in patients with 42 % of the total isolates. H. influenzae and Chlamydia pneumoniae were resistant to β-lactam antibiotics but susceptible to fluroquinolones and aminoglycosides, whereas S. aureus and S. pneumoniae were found to be highly resistant to β-lactam, aminoglycosides and fluroquinolones. S. aureus was also moderately resistant to fluroquinolones and aminoglycosides with percent resistance of 26, 33 and 18 %, respectively. 56 % S. pneumoniae isolates were resistant against erythromycin, 27 % against chloramphenicol and 23 % against cefuroxime. The studies revealed that S. aureus and S. pneumoniae strains were high producer of biofilms which could be one of the reasons for their high pathogenicity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and objectives: The clinical features and efficacies of antivirals for children with hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections that are acquired through different transmission routines are poorly understood worldwide. This study investigated the clinical characteristics of children who were infected via iatrogenic means and analyzed the efficacy of antiviral therapy in children with chronic hepatitis C (CHC). Methods: In total, 256 children with HCV infections aged 1 to 5 years were enrolled and surveyed. Interferon-α plus ribavirin was administered to 162 children with CHC for 24 or 48 weeks. The sustained virologic response (SVR) at 24 weeks post-treatment was determined. Results: The median duration of infection was 11.5 (range 6-24) months. The median age was 2.7 years, and 64.5 % of the subjects were male. Ninety-three children (36.3 %, 93/256) exhibited spontaneous resolution of the HCV infection. The remaining 163 (63.7 %) were HCV RNA-positive and had HCV genotypes 1b and 2a, which were identified in 42 and 58 %, respectively, of the 133 tested children. Liver biopsies were performed in all HCV RNA-detectable children. A total of 23.9 % cases exhibited grade 2 activity, and 30.1 % exhibited stage 2/3 liver fibrosis. The serum HCV RNA levels were positively correlated with the aminotransferases. Of the 162 treated CHC children, 158 (97.5 %) achieved SVR. The side effects were mild, and 158 (97.5 %) of the treated patients tolerated the treatment well. Conclusions: This study revealed that histological liver disease can be present within 6-24 months of acquiring an HCV infection in children aged 1-5 years. Interferon-α plus ribavirin therapy is a highly effective and cost-effective means of managing children with early-stage chronic HCV infection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To inhibit the graphitization of diamond under high temperature and low pressure, diamond/SiC composites were firstly fabricated by a rapid gaseous Si vacuum reactive infiltration process. The microstructure and graphitization behavior of diamond in the composites under various infiltration temperatures and holding time were investigated. The thermal conductivity of the resultant materials was discussed. The results show that the diamond-to-graphite transition is effectively inhibited at temperature of as high as 1600 °C under vacuum, and the substantial graphitization starts at 1700 °C. The microstructure of those ungraphitized samples is uniform and fully densified. The inhibition mechanisms of graphitization include the isolation of the catalysts from diamond by a series of protective layers, high pressure stress applied on diamond by the reaction-bonded SiC, and the moderate gas-solid reaction. For the graphitized samples, the boundary between diamond and SiC is coarse and loose. The graphitization mechanism is considered to be an initial detachment of the bilayers from the diamond surfaces, and subsequently flattening to form graphite. The ungraphitized samples present higher thermal conductivity of about 410 W·m·K due to the fine interfacial structure. For the graphitized samples, the thermal conductivity decreases significantly to 285 W·m·K as a result of high interfacial thermal resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The calorimetric determination of the fragility m-index is compared using the T and T methods for typical metallic and molecular glass forming systems of PdNiCuP, glycerol, triacetin and propylene carbonate. The results are evaluated by referring to the standard m-values determined from the kinetic measurements of the viscosity or structural relaxation time in the supercooled liquid regimes. The m-indexes derived from the T method are found to generally agree well with the kinetic measurements for all the systems. However, a large deviation is shown between the m-indexes calculated with the T method and the kinetic results for the fragile liquids of triacetin and propylene carbonate, indicating the calorimetric determination of the fragility m-indexes in terms of the T method produces less uncertainty. Graphical abstract: [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cubic boron nitride (cBN) is a well known superhard material that has a wide range of industrial applications. Nanostructuring of cBN is an effective way to improve its hardness by virtue of the Hall-Petch effect-the tendency for hardness to increase with decreasing grain size. Polycrystalline cBN materials are often synthesized by using the martensitic transformation of a graphite-like BN precursor, in which high pressures and temperatures lead to puckering of the BN layers. Such approaches have led to synthetic polycrystalline cBN having grain sizes as small as ?14?nm (refs 1, 2, 4, 5). Here we report the formation of cBN with a nanostructure dominated by fine twin domains of average thickness ?3.8?nm. This nanotwinned cBN was synthesized from specially prepared BN precursor nanoparticles possessing onion-like nested structures with intrinsically puckered BN layers and numerous stacking faults. The resulting nanotwinned cBN bulk samples are optically transparent with a striking combination of physical properties: an extremely high Vickers hardness (exceeding 100?GPa, the optimal hardness of synthetic diamond), a high oxidization temperature (?1,294?°C) and a large fracture toughness (>12?MPa?m1/2, well beyond the toughness of commercial cemented tungsten carbide, ?10?MPa?m1/2). We show that hardening of cBN is continuous with decreasing twin thickness down to the smallest sizes investigated, contrasting with the expected reverse Hall-Petch effect below a critical grain size or the twin thickness of ?10-15?nm found in metals and alloys. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copolymerization of acrylonitrile(AN) with ammonium itaconate (AIA) initiated by ammonium persulfate (APS) was investigated in deionized water at 60°C under magnetic field(MF). The values of monomer apparent reactivity ratios were calculated by Kelen-Tüdõs method and the conversion was also measured. It has been found that the polymer radical group with an AIA unit at the chain end is considerably more active in the presence of MF, the conversion of solution polymerization of AN in the presence of MF is higher at the same ratio of AN/AIA. The molecular weight distribution (MWD) is narrower than that prepared without MF because of the orientation of their spin moments under MF. moreover, the fluctuation of the lifetime of propagating AN macroradicals is smaller. It is clear that the crystallization degree of powder polyacrylonitrile (PAN) prepared with MF is higher than that PAN obtained without MF. For the attained fibers coming from the dope treated under MF, the thermal properties become more stable, which also affects on the mechanical properties of the resultant fibers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The experimental studies of liquid fragility in miscible binary and ternary glass forming mixtures reveal a general observation of the negative deviation in fragility upon mixing from the linear average of those of the components. Further analyses from ideal, near ideal to non-ideal mixing modes show that the deviation magnitude does not increase monotonically with mixing enthalpy, and a moderate intermolecular interaction would generate a largest reduction in fragility. Four eutectic systems, methyl- o-toluate-methyl- p-toluate, ZnCl-AlCl, glycerol-water, and fructose-water, are studied to locate the composition where the largest fragility deviation occurs in phase diagrams. It is found that the compositions with the fragility minima do not coincide with the eutectic points. The results partly explain the experimental observation that the best glass forming region is not located at the eutectic composition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the translational hull of a type B semigroup is considered. We prove that the translational hull of a type B semigroup is itself a type B semigroup, and give some properties and characterizations of the translational hulls of such semigroups. Moreover, we consider the translational hulls of some special type B semigroups. These results strengthen the results of Fountain and Lawson (Semigroup Forum 32:79-86, ) on adequate semigroups. Finally, we give a new proof of a problem posted by Petrich on translational hulls of inverse semigroups in Petrich (Inverse Semigroups, Wiley, New York, ). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper enlarges the list of properties of the congruence sequences starting from the universal relation and successively performing the operations of lower T and lower K. Two classes of inverse semigroups, namely Eω-Clifford semigroups and Eω- E-reflexive semigroups, are studied. (( ω)) and ((( ω))) are found to be the least Eω-Clifford and Eω- E-reflexive congruences on S, respectively. Characterizations of the congruences (( ω)) and ((( ω))) are developed. The lattices of all Eω-Clifford and Eω- E-reflexive congruences are also studied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The universal practices have been centralizing on the research of regularization to the direct boundary integal equations (DBIEs). The character is elimination of singularities by using the simple solutions. However, up to now the research of regularization to the first kind integral equations for plane potential problems has never been found in previous literatures. The presentation is mainly devoted to the research on the regularization of the singular boundary integral equations with indirect unknowns. A novel view and idea is presented herein, in which the regularized boundary integral equations with indirect unknowns without including the Cauchy principal value (CPV) and Hadamard-finite-part (HFP) integrals are established for the plane potential problems. With some numerical results, it is shown that the better accuracy and higher efficiency, especially on the boundary, can be achieved by the present system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To understand the contemporary process of desertification in the Mu-Us Sandy Land, China, we assessed the current status of desertification from satellite images. We analyzed the effect of land use by comparing desertification images and GIS-based thematic data. Socioeconomic factors were studied through interviews with local people. The desertified area ratio in each village was related to the sand dune ratio. Desertification in this region was affected by the activity of sand dunes. The revegetated area ratio had a close relationship with the cropland ratio. The development of cropland and surrounding woods contributed to revegetation of desertified land. Desertified areas were distributed mainly in pastoral regions. Critical carrying capacity of grassland for sheep and goats was approximately 2 head/ha. High population density of goats was evident in the severely desertified ranges. Goats were increasingly introduced to earn money through modernization, but they overgrazed fenced pastures. Further environmental education is needed to promote sustainable land use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, gold-coated magnetic nanoparticles have drawn the interest of researchers due to their unique magneto-plasmonic characteristics. Previous research has found that the magneto-optical Faraday effect of gold-coated magnetic nanoparticles can be effectively enhanced because of the surface plasmon resonance of the gold shell. Furthermore, gold-coated magnetic nanoparticles are ideal for biomedical applications because of their high stability and biocompatibility. In this work, we synthesized Fe3O4@Au core-shell nanoparticles and coated streptavidin (STA) on the surface. Streptavidin is a protein which can selectively bind to biotin with a strong affinity. STA is widely used in biotechnology research including enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), time-resolved immunofluorescence (TRFIA), biosensors, and targeted pharmaceuticals. The Faraday magneto-optical characteristics of the biofunctionalized Fe3O4@Au nanoparticles were measured and studied. We showed that the streptavidin-coated Fe3O4@Au nanoparticles still possessed the enhanced magneto-optical Faraday effect. As a result, the possibility of using biofunctionalized Fe3O4@Au nanoparticles for magneto-optical biomedical assays should be explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Article was updated to delete "Petrich" from the following sentence: (11) ⇒ (7). Since αn + 1 ∩ L = ε, by [3, Proposition III.4.2] we have that αn + 1 is idempotent pure and thus αn + 1 ⊆ τ. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Arising from N. Dubrovinskaia & L. Dubrovinsky 502, http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature12620 (2013)Dubrovinskaia and Dubrovinsky question the sub-grain structure and ultrahigh hardness of our nanotwinned cubic boron nitride (nt-cBN; ref. 2), and make the following assertions: (1) hardening related to nanotwinning in cBN has been known for tens of years, (2) our X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Raman results do not show the signatures of nanotwinning, (3) there are large wurtzite-structure boron nitride (wBN) domains present in our samples, and (4) our hardness values are unconvincing. We argue below that all these claims are incorrect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The enthalpy relaxation is performed in the glassy Ge22Se78 to understand the dynamic behaviors. The structure of the glass is examined by X-ray diffraction and Raman spectra. The dynamic parameters such as the fragility, stretching exponent and non-linear factor are determined. A low fragility of m = 27 is exhibited for the chalcogenide, however, the stretching exponent is found not to have a larger value. The enthalpy relaxation spectra are constructed for various glass formers, and a relationship between the fragility and the symmetry of the spectra is demonstrated. The dynamic results are used to evaluate the structure of the Ge22Se78 glass. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Combining molecular dynamics (MD) simulation and Voronoi polyhedral analyses, we discussed the microstructure evolution in liquid and glassy silicon during cooling by focusing on the fraction of various clusters. Liquid-liquid phase transition (LLPT) is detected in supercooled liquid silicon However, freezing the high-density liquid (HDL) to the glassy state is not achieved as the quenching rate goes up to 1014 K/s. The polyamorphism in glassy silicon is found to be mainly associated with low-density liquid (LDL). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dependence of the glass transition in mixtures on mixing thermodynamics is examined by focusing on enthalpy of mixing, ΔHmix with the change in sign (positive vs. negative) and magnitude (small vs. large). The effects of positive and negative ΔHmix are demonstrated based on two isomeric systems of o- vs. m- methoxymethylbenzene (MMB) and o- vs. m- dibromobenzene (DBB) with comparably small absolute ΔHmix. Two opposite composition dependences of the glass transition temperature, Tg, are observed with the MMB mixtures showing a distinct negative deviation from the ideal mixing rule and the DBB mixtures having a marginally positive deviation. The system of 1, 2- propanediamine (12PDA) vs. propylene glycol (PG) with large and negative ΔHmix is compared with the systems of small ΔHmix, and a considerably positive Tg shift is seen. Models involving the properties of pure components such as Tg, glass transition heat capacity increment, ΔCp, and density, ρ, do not interpret the observed Tg shifts in the systems. In contrast, a linear correlation is revealed between ΔHmix and maximum Tg shifts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The enthalpy relaxation is performed in the glassy Ge22Se78 to understand the dynamic behaviors. The structure of the glass is examined by X-ray diffraction and Raman spectra. The dynamic parameters such as the fragility, stretching exponent and non-linear factor are determined. A low fragility of m = 27 is exhibited for the chalcogenide, however, the stretching exponent is found not to have a larger value. The enthalpy relaxation spectra are constructed for various glass formers, and a relationship between the fragility and the symmetry of the spectra is demonstrated. The dynamic results are used to evaluate the structure of the Ge22Se78 glass. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]