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Excellent castability, significantly refined microstructure, and good mechanical properties make eutectic high‐entropy alloys (EHEAs) a natural fit for rapid solidification processes, e.g., additive manufacturing. Previous investigations have focused on developing EHEAs through trial and error and mixing known binary eutectic materials. However, eutectic compositions obtained from near‐equilibrium conditions do not guarantee a fully eutectic microstructure under rapid solidifications. In this work, a thermodynamically guided high‐throughput framework is proposed to design EHEAs for rapid solidification. Empirical formulas derived from past experimental observations and thermodynamic computations are applied and considered phase growth kinetics under rapid solidification (skewed phase diagram). The designed alloy candidate, Co25.6Fe17.9Ni22.4Cr19.1Ta8.9Al6.1 (wt.%), contains nanostructured eutectic lamellar and shows a high Vickers hardness of 675 Hv. In addition to this specific composition, the alloy design toolbox enables the development of new EHEAs for rapid solidification without the limitation of previous knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ramie is one of the most important fiber crops in China, with fibers extracted from stem barks having been used as textile materials for thousands of years. DNA methylation is an important epigenetic modification involved in plant growth and development. However, the role of methylation in ramie fiber growth remains poorly understood. In the present study, we investigated the DNA methylation landscape of the nuclear genome in bark sections taken from the top (TPS) and the middle (MPS) of the stems of ramie plants, which represent different stages of fiber growth, using whole-genome bisulfite sequencing. We detected 7,709,555 and 8,508,326 5-methylcytosines in the TPS and MPS genomes, respectively. The distribution of methylation across three sequence contexts, CG, CHG, and CHH, varied greatly among gene elements, with methylation at CHH being the most prevalent. Comparison of methylation levels between the TPS and MPS genomes revealed 23.162 Mb of differentially methylated genomic regions, encompassing 9485 genes. Among these differentially methylated genes, 841 exhibited altered expression in the MPS genome. Notably, an SND2 ortholog Bni05G006779 showed a negative correlation between its expression and methylation levels. Overexpression of Bni05G006779 in Arabidopsis dramatically increased the number of xylem fibers and the secondary wall thickness of the fibers in the stems of transgenic plants. These findings provide important insights into the involvement of DNA methylation in regulating ramie fiber growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study draws on the behavioural theory of the firm to examine the impact of performance feedback on enterprise digital transformation. We develop a set of hypotheses and empirically test them using panel data of Chinese A-share listed firms from 21 to 2019. The fixed-effects panel data models serve as an estimation technique. Empirical results show that as performance falls below aspiration, the degree of enterprise digital transformation first increases and then decreases, as performance rises above aspiration, the degree of enterprise digital transformation first decreases and then increases. That is, there is an inverted U-shaped relationship between negative performance feedback and enterprise digital transformation and a U-shaped relationship between positive performance feedback and enterprise digital transformation. Moreover, CEO openness significantly intensifies digital transformation in response to negative performance feedback, and industrial digitalization positively moderates the effects of positive performance feedback on digital transformation. Our findings highlight the importance of performance feedback on enterprise digital transformation, not only theoretically contributes to the research on digital transformation and behavioural theory, but also have notable implications for practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a cost-effective production, steel reinforced thermoplastic pipes (S-RTPs) are employed in many industrial fields, such as the marine and petrochemical industries. The design, manufacture, and mechanical properties of S-RTPs are more challenging than those of traditional pipes because of their complicated behaviors and damage mechanisms. A comprehensive review of the design, manufacture, and mechanical behavior of S-RTPs is presented to understand the predictive capabilities, efficiency, and drawbacks of S-RTPs. The limitations of the existing investigations of S-RTPs and the guidance on future research to improve the analysis and design of S-RTPs are also reviewed, discussed, and provided. This article is the first systematic review to consolidate the understanding of the mechanical performance and existing problems related to steel reinforced plastic pipes (S-RTPs). An S-RTP is a cost-effective production, and it has been employed in many industrial fields, such as the marine and petrochemical industries. The design, manufacture, and understanding of mechanical properties of S-RTPs are quite complicated, and they are more challenging than those of traditional pipes like carbon steel pipes, due to their complex behaviors and failure process. However, there has been no review to consolidate the understanding of the behavior and problems related to S-RTPs to the best of our knowledge. This paper reviews existing work in design, manufacture, mechanical properties, and some potential nondestructive testing techniques of S-RTPs to understand the predictive capabilities, efficiency, and drawbacks of S-RTPs. The limitations of the existing investigations of S-RTPs and the guidance on future research to improve the analysis and design of S-RTPs are also reviewed, discussed, and provided. People including scientists, engineers, workers, students, and potential purchasers can get the content of interest about different kinds of S-RTPs from this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In ultrasonic structural health monitoring (SHM) and nondestructive evaluation (NDE), the scattered waves caused by damage sites and defects are the key to damage diagnosis. However, structural components and boundaries also interact with traveling waves, creating events that can bury damage scattered waves. The baseline subtraction method, which directly subtracts the waveform of a damage signal from that of a pristine baseline signal, is a common processing technique to separate these damage scattered waves. However, baseline subtraction is less effective when a component is measured in different environmental/loading conditions from when its baseline was recorded. For instance, baseline subtraction can be ineffective in aerospace structural parts because such parts expect significant and routine changes in ambient temperature, pressure, and humidity. To overcome the limitations of baseline subtraction, this paper proposes to develop an spex-shifted Radon transform (ASRT)-based damage scattered event extraction technique without baseline subtraction. Our proposed ASRT method converts the original time-space (t − x) domain signals to a time delay–curvature–apex offset (τ − q − y) domain, which targets specific geometries of scattered/reflected waves in the t − x domain and compresses them into a single point-like region in the new domain. In this domain, identifying and isolating targeted events becomes significantly easier. To benchmark the performance of this baseline-subtraction-free (BSF) method, ASRT is applied for signals acquired from (1) spectral finite element-based simulations to scan a water-immersed steel specimen (2) 3-D wave simulations in a bent aluminum plate, and (3) a full matrix capture for experimentally scanning a high-density polyethylene (HDPE) with multiple holes. The goal in each case is to target and separate events of interest from the original signals using the proposed algorithm. The results suggest the ASRT method is effective as a damage scattered wave extraction tool for ultrasonic SHM and NDE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]