Bio-inspired Design and Fabrication of Super-Strong and Multifunctional Carbon Nanotube Composites

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are ideal scaffolds to design and architect high-performance composites at high CNT volume fractions. In these composites, the CNT alignment determines the level of aggregation and the structure morphology, and thus the load transfer efficiency between neighboring CNTs. Here, we discuss two major solutions to produce high-volume fraction CNT composites, namely the layer-by-layer stacking of aligned CNT sheets and the stretching of entangled CNT webs (networks). As inspired by the growth procedure of natural composites, the aggregation of CNTs can be well controlled during the assembling process. As a result, the CNTs can be highly packed, aligned, and importantly unaggregated, with the impregnated polymers acting as interfacial adhesion or mortars to build up the composite structure. The CNT/bismaleimide composites can yield a super-high tensile strength up to 6.27–6.94 GPa and a modulus up to 315 GPa

Vibration Damping of Carbon Nanotube Assembly Materials

Vibration reduction is of great importance in various engineering applications, and a material that exhibits good vibration damping along with high strength and modulus has become more and more vital. Owing to the superior mechanical property of carbon nanotube (CNT), new types of vibration damping material can be developed. This paper presents recent advancements, including our progresses, in the development of high-damping macroscopic CNT assembly materials, such as forests, gels, films, and fibers. In these assemblies, structural deformation of CNTs, zipping and unzipping at CNT connection nodes, strengthening and welding of the nodes, and sliding between CNTs or CNT bundles are playing important roles in determining the viscoelasticity, and elasticity as well. Towards the damping enhancement, strategies for micro-structure and interface design are also discussed

Hydrodynamic Performance of a Very Large Floating Structure with Oscillating Water Columns:Semi-analytical Investigation

Responses of the very large floating Structures (VLFS) can be mitigated by implementing oscillating water columns (OWCs). This paper explores the fundamental mechanism of present wave interactions with both structures and examines the hydrodynamic performance of VLFS equipped with OWCs (VLFS-OWCs). Under the linear potential flow theory framework, the semi-analytical model of wave interaction with VLFS-OWCs is developed using the eigenfunction matching method. The semi-analytical model is verified using the Haskind relationship and wave energy conservation law. Results show that the system with dual-chamber OWCs has a wider frequency bandwidth in wave power extraction and hydroelastic response mitigation of VLFS. It is worth noting that the presence of Bragg resonance can be trigged due to wave interaction with the chamber walls and the VLFS, which is not beneficial for the wave power extraction performance and the protection of VLFS.</p

Hydrodynamic Performance of a Very Large Floating Structure with Oscillating Water Columns:Semi-analytical Investigation

Responses of the very large floating Structures (VLFS) can be mitigated by implementing oscillating water columns (OWCs). This paper explores the fundamental mechanism of present wave interactions with both structures and examines the hydrodynamic performance of VLFS equipped with OWCs (VLFS-OWCs). Under the linear potential flow theory framework, the semi-analytical model of wave interaction with VLFS-OWCs is developed using the eigenfunction matching method. The semi-analytical model is verified using the Haskind relationship and wave energy conservation law. Results show that the system with dual-chamber OWCs has a wider frequency bandwidth in wave power extraction and hydroelastic response mitigation of VLFS. It is worth noting that the presence of Bragg resonance can be trigged due to wave interaction with the chamber walls and the VLFS, which is not beneficial for the wave power extraction performance and the protection of VLFS.</p

Simulation study of the velocity profile and deflection rate of non-Newtonian fluids in the bend part of the pipe

As resource extraction moves deeper underground, backfill mining has received a lot of attention from the industry as a very promising mining method that can provide a safe workplace for workers. However, the safe and efficient transport of fill slurry through pipelines still needs more exploration, especially in the bend section. In order to investigate the flow characteristics and velocity evolution of the slurry in the bend section of the pipe, a three-dimensional (3D) pipe model was developed using the computational fluid dynamics software Fluent, and nine sets of two-factor, three-level simulations were performed. Furthermore, a single-factor analysis was presented to investigate the effects of the two main influencing factors on the shifting of the maximum velocity of the slurry towards the distal side in the bend section, respectively. Then, the response surface analysis method was applied to the two-factor analysis of the maximum velocity shift and the weights of the two influencing factors were specified

HPtaa database-potential target genes for clinical diagnosis and immunotherapy of human carcinoma

Tumor-associated antigens (TAAs) have been the most actively employed targets in the clinical diagnosis and treatment of human carcinoma, such as PSA in the diagnosis of prostate cancer and NY-ESO-1 in the immunotherapy of melanoma and other cancers. However, identification of TAAs has often been hampered by the complicated and laborsome laboratory procedures. In order to accelerate the process of tumor antigen discovery, and thereby improve diagnosis and treatment of human carcinoma, we have made an effort to establish a publicly available Human Potential Tumor Associated Antigen database (HPtaa) with potential TAAs identified by in silico computing (). Tumor specificity was chosen as the core of tumor antigen evaluation, together with other relevant clues. Various platforms of gene expression, including microarray, expressed sequence tag and SAGE data, were processed and integrated by several penalty algorithms. A total of 3518 potential TAAs have been included in the database, which is freely available to academic users. As far as we know, this database is the first one addressing human potential TAAs, and the first one integrating various kinds of expression platforms for one purpose

IDH1突变体通过抑制JNK的激活减少生长因子缺失诱导的细胞凋亡

文章简介抵抗凋亡和能在血清营养因子缺乏的情况下生长是肿瘤细胞的两个主要特征。JNK的激活是血清饥饿诱导的细胞凋亡所必须的因素。目前研究表明IDH1突变体产生的致癌代谢物2-羟基戊二酸(2-HG)是突变的导致肿瘤形成的主要原因。然而目前尚不清楚2-HG是否能抑制JNK的激活,进而使细胞抵抗血清饥饿诱导的凋亡。课题组以IDH1 R132Q的基因敲入MEF为研究对象