Microstructure and bonding behavior of fiber-mortar interface in fiber-reinforced concrete

The interfacial properties between fiber and matrix play a critical role in the overall mechanical responses of composite materials. In this paper, the glass fiber-mortar interfacial microstructure in fiber reinforced concrete (FRC) is visualized and characterized using X-ray microscopy. Additionally, three types of fiber-mortar interface (glass fiber, high modulus polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) fiber, and basalt fiber) are analyzed by scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. The results revealed a lot of microcracks along with the glass fiber-mortar interface; moreover, the hydration product of the glass/PVA/basalt fiber-mortar interface was much lower than that of the mortar matrix. Because microcracks or lower hydration product have such a negative effect on the interfacial bonding between fiber and mortar, the objective of this paper was to provide an analysis of this problem through extensive testing of their bonding properties. Specimens made of three types of fiber were tested along with three different mortar types under tensile stress and a combined stress state to investigate the interfacial bond properties between fiber and mortar. Results show that both of the tensile and shear bond strength of the interface were not only improved by stronger mortar matrix, but also significantly affected by fiber type. Furthermore, when the interface failed by slipping along the interfacial area, the interface showed an increasing shear bond strength with the increase of compressive stress. This was not the case when failure was due to the crushing of mortar. Finally, the FRC splitting tensile strength was tested to demonstrate the bonding mechanism effects on the FRC mechanical properties

B(s)→SB_{(s)}\to S transitions in the light cone sum rules with the chiral current

$B_{(s)}$ semi-leptonic decays to the light scalar meson, $B_{(s)}\to S l\bar{\nu}_l, S l \bar{l}\,\,(l=e,\mu,\tau)$, are investigated in the QCD light-cone sum rules (LCSR) with chiral current correlator. Having little knowledge of ingredients of the scalar mesons, we confine ourself to the two quark picture for them and work with the two possible Scenarios. The resulting sum rules for the form factors receive no contributions from the twist-3 distribution amplitudes (DA's), in comparison with the calculation of the conventional LCSR approach where the twist-3 parts play usually an important role. We specify the range of the squared momentum transfer $q^2$, in which the operator product expansion (OPE) for the correlators remains valid approximately. It is found that the form factors satisfy a relation consistent with the prediction of soft collinear effective theory (SCET). In the effective range we investigate behaviors of the form factors and differential decay widthes and compare our calculations with the observations from other approaches. The present findings can be beneficial to experimentally identify physical properties of the scalar mesons.Comment: 22 pages,16 figure

Actively controlling the topological transition of dispersion based on electrically controllable metamaterials

Topological transition of the iso-frequency contour (IFC) from a closed ellipsoid to an open hyperboloid, will provide unique capabilities for controlling the propagation of light. However, the ability to actively tune these effects remains elusive and the related experimental observations are highly desirable. Here, tunable electric IFC in periodic structure which is composed of graphene/dielectric multilayers is investigated by tuning the chemical potential of graphene layer. Specially, we present the actively controlled transportation in two kinds of anisotropic zero-index media containing PEC/PMC impurities. At last, by adding variable capacitance diodes into two-dimensional transmission-line system, we present the experimental demonstration of the actively controlled magnetic topological transition of dispersion based on electrically controllable metamaterials. With the increase of voltage, we measure the different emission patterns from a point source inside the structure and observe the phase-transition process of IFCs. The realization of actively tuned topological transition will opens up a new avenue in the dynamical control of metamaterials.Comment: 21 pages,8 figure

Induction of MET Receptor Tyrosine Kinase Down-Regulation through Antibody-Mediated Receptor Clustering

The proto-oncoprotein MET is a receptor tyrosine kinase that plays a key role in cancer cell growth and invasion. We have used fluorescence-tagged antibodies to activate MET in live serum-starved glioblastoma cells and monitor the fate of antibody-bound MET receptor in single cell-based assays. We found that the antibodies induced rapid and transient formation of highly polarized MET clusters on the plasma membrane and promoted the activation of MET, resembling the initial effects of binding to its ligand, HGF. However, the antibody-induced clustering and activation of MET led to the rapid removal of the receptor from cell surface and altered its intracellular processing, resulted in rapid degradation of the receptor. Consequently, while cells pre-treated with HGF remain competent to respond to further HGF stimulation, cells pre-treated with antibodies are refractory to further HGF stimulation due to antibody-mediated MET depletion. Removal of MET by sustained treatment of antibodies blocked cancer cell migration and invasion. Our studies reveal a novel mechanism to alter the recycling process of MET in glioblastoma cancer cells by promoting the receptor degradation through a proteasome-sensitive and lysosome-dependent pathway through the ligand-independent activation of MET using anti-MET antibodies