Thermodynamic entropy as a marker of high‐cycle fatigue damage accumulation: Example for normalized SAE 1045 steel

A nondestructive thermographic methodology is utilized to determine the fracture fatigue entropy for evaluating the fatigue damage in metals within the high‐cycle fatigue regime. Thermodynamic entropy is shown to play an important role in the fatigue process to trace the fatigue damage as an irreversible degradation of a metallic material being subjected to cyclic elastic‐plastic loading. This paper presents a method to evaluate fatigue damage in the normalized SAE 1045 steel being based on the concept of thermodynamic entropy and its nonlinearities. The procedure looks to be applicable to constant and load increase tests proven by experiments

Incorporating social objectives in evaluating sustainable fisheries harvest strategy

Fisheries management must take account of environmental sustainability, economic profitability, and social benefits generated by the public resources. The traditional approach of maximum economic yield (MEY), however, is yet to consider social objectives in deriving quantitative quotes. Current MEY evaluation framework would be appropriate if the economic rent was distributed back to the public. If public resources are privatized as corporations, the rent largely flows to the owners of large capital in the fishing industry. This is in stark contrast to the aims of benefiting the community as a whole. In this short paper, we promote a socially responsible framework in decision-making of fisheries management. This approach is beyond the fleet-based MEY approach, for it incorporates fleet profitability, chain profitability, employment, environmental concerns, and broad social benefits, in strict accordance with stock sustainability. Recognizing the needs of fishers, as well as the interests of chain sectors and the broader community, is a vital part of ensuring responsible fishery management and a viable future for Australian fisheries. The established framework will provide open view scenarios and enrich the MEY approaches in fisheries management

Flexible MXene films for batteries and beyond

MXenes add dozens of metallic conductors to the family of two-dimensional (2D) materials. A top-down synthesis approach removing A-layer atoms (e.g., Al, Si, and Ga) in MAX phases to produce 2D flakes attaches various surface terminations to MXenes. With these terminations, MXenes show tunable properties, promising a range of applications from energy storage devices to electronics, including sensors, transistors, and antennas. MXenes are also excellent building blocks to create flexible films used for flexible and wearable devices. This article summarizes the synthesis of MXene flakes and highlights aspects that need attention for flexible devices. Rather than listing the development of energy storage devices in detail, we focus on the main challenges of and solutions for constructing high-performance devices. Moreover, we show the applications of MXene films in electronics to call on designs to construct a complete system based on MXene with good flexibility, which consists of a power source, sensors, transistors, and wireless communications

Characterization and Analysis of Plastic Instability in an Ultrafine‐Grained Medium Mn TRIP Steel

Herein, the mechanical and magnetic behavior of an ultrafine-grained (UFG) medium manganese (Mn) transformation-induced plasticity (TRIP) steel is focused on in its plastic instability. The in situ methods of digital image correlation (DIC) and magnetic Barkhausen noise (MBN) are used to macroscopically characterize the propagation of the Lüders band (stretcher–strain marks) and the evolution of MBN activities during quasistatic tensile deformation. The evolution of microstructure during the plastic instability is investigated ex situ using X-Ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) for selected plastic strain states. It is showed in the results that the plastic instability of this steel is associated with an increase of hardness and enrichment of dislocation density, which can also amplify the MBN signal, while the derived coercivity behaves reversely on an overall trend due to work hardening. The different stress response of the medium Mn steel is closely related to the kinetic martensite microstructure, which in turn modifies the domain–structure response. Thus, the MBN can be used as a potential means for nondestructive evaluation (NDE) for the strengthening of the UFG medium Mn TRIP steel

Free-aldehyde neutralized and oligohyaluronan loaded bovine pericardium with improved anti-calcification and endothelialization for bioprosthetic heart valves

The number of patients with valvular heart disease is increasing yearly, and valve replacement is the most effective treatment, during which bioprosthetic heart valves (BHVs) are the most widely used. Commercial BHVs are mainly prepared with glutaraldehyde (Glut) cross-linked bovine pericardial or porcine aortic valves, but the residual free aldehyde groups in these tissues can cause calcification and cytotoxicity. Moreover, insufficient glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) in tissues can further reduce biocompatibility and durability. However, the anti-calcification performance and biocompatibility might be improved by blocking the free aldehyde groups and increasing the GAGs content in Glut-crosslinked tissues. In our study, adipic dihydrazide (ADH) was used to neutralize the residual free aldehyde groups in tissues and provide sites to blind with oligohyaluronan (OHA) to increase the content of GAGs in tissues. The modified bovine pericardium was evaluated for its content of residual aldehyde groups, the amount of OHA loaded, physical/chemical characteristics, biomechanical properties, biocompatibility, and in vivo anticalcification assay and endothelialization effects in juvenile Sprague-Dawley rats. The results showed that ADH could completely neutralize the free aldehyde groups in the Glut-crosslinked bovine pericardium, the amount of OHA loaded increased and the cytotoxicity was reduced. Moreover, the in vivo results also showed that the level of calcification and inflammatory response in the modified pericardial tissue was significantly reduced in a rat subcutaneous implantation model, and the results from the rat abdominal aorta vascular patch repair model further demonstrated the improved capability of the modified pericardial tissues for endothelialization. Furthermore, more α-SMA+ smooth muscle cells and fewer CD68+ macrophages infiltrated in the neointima of the modified pericardial patch. In summary, blocking free-aldehydes and loading OHA improved the anti-calcification, anti-inflammation and endothelialization properties of Glut-crosslinked BHVs and in particularly, this modified strategy may be a promising candidate for the next-generation of BHVs

Microwave-Assisted Synthesis of Co/CoOx Supported on Earth-Abundant Coal-Derived Carbon for Electrocatalysis of Oxygen Evolution

The evident demand for hydrogen as the ultimate energy fuel for posterity calls for the development of low-cost, efficient and stable electrocatalysts for water splitting. Herein, we report the synthesis of Co/CoOx supported on coal-derived N-doped carbon via a simple microwave-assisted method and demonstrate its application as an efficient catalyst for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER). With the optimal amount of cobalt introduced into the N-doped coal-derived, the developed catalyst achieved overpotentials of 0.370 and 0.429 V during water oxidation at current densities of 1 mA cm(-2) and 10 mA cm(-2), respectively. There was no noticeable loss in the activity of the catalyst during continuous galvanostatic polarization at a current density of 10 mA cm(-2) for a test period of 66 h. The synergistic interaction of the Co/CoOx moieties with the pyridinic and pyrollic nitrogen functional groups in the N-doped carbon, as well with the other heteroatoms species in the pristine coal favored enhancement of the OER electrocatalytic performance. (C) The Author(s) 2019. Published by ECS

Selenium‐doping induced two antiferromagnetic transitions in thiospinel compounds CuCo₂S_(4‐x)Se_x (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.8)

A series of copper thiospinels compounds, CuCo₂S_(4‐x)Se_x (x = 0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8), have been successfully synthesized by solid state reaction and their structure and magnetic properties have been studied. The Rietveld refinements of X‐Ray diffractions indicate that both the lattice constants and the nearest neighbor Cu‐Cu distances increase with increasing selenium doping. A weakly antiferromagnetic transition occurring at about 4 K is observed in CuCo₂S₄. Two antiferromagnetic transitions at about 3.5 K and 6 K are observed in selenium‐doped samples, which suggest that the exchange couplings associated with Cu‐S(Se)‐Cu and Cu‐Se(S)‐Cu, respectively, are responsible for the two antiferromagnetic transitions. Detailed analysis of the experimental results further indicate that the nearest‐neighbor molecular field coefficient is comparable to the next‐neighbor molecular field coefficient. We propose a reasonable model to explain this phenomenon

Multifunctional nanoparticle-VEGF modification for tissue-engineered vascular graft to promote sustained anti-thrombosis and rapid endothelialization

Purpose: The absence of a complete endothelial cell layer is a well-recognized reason leading to small-diameter tissue-engineered vascular graft failure. Here we reported a multifunctional system consisting of chitosan (CS), Arg-Glu-Asp-Val (REDV) peptide, heparin, and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) to achieve sustained anti-thrombosis and rapid endothelialization for decellularized and photo-oxidized bovine internal mammary arteries (DP-BIMA).Methods: CS-REDV copolymers were synthesized via a transglutaminase (TGase) catalyzed reaction. CS-REDV-Hep nanoparticles were formed by electrostatic self-assembly and loaded on the DP-BIMA. The quantification of released heparin and vascular endothelial growth factor was detected. Hemolysis rate, platelets adhesion, endothelial cell (EC) adhesion and proliferation, and MTT assay were performed in vitro. The grafts were then tested in a rabbit abdominal aorta interposition model for 3 months. The patency rates were calculated and the ECs regeneration was investigated by immunofluorescence staining of CD31, CD144, and eNOS antibodies.Results: The nanoparticle-VEGF system (particle size: 61.8 ± 18.3 nm, zeta-potential: +13.2 mV, PDI: .108) showed a sustained and controlled release of heparin and VEGF for as long as 1 month and exhibited good biocompatibility, a lower affinity for platelets, and a higher affinity for ECs in vitro. The nanoparticle-VEGF immobilized BIMA achieved 100% and 83.3% patency in a rabbit abdominal interposition model during 1 and 3 months, respectively, without any thrombogenicity and showed CD31, CD144, eNOS positive cell adhesion as early as 1 day. After 3 months, CD31, CD144, and eNOS positive cells covered almost the whole luminal surface of the grafts.Conclusion: The results demonstrated that the multifunctional nanoparticle-VEGF system can enhance the anti-thrombosis property and promote rapid endothelialization of small-diameter tissue-engineered vascular grafts. Utilizing nanoparticles to combine different kinds of biomolecules is an appropriate technology to improve the long-term patency of small-diameter tissue-engineered vascular grafts

Pressure-induced superconductivity in topological type II Dirac semimetal NiTe₂

Very recently, NiTe₂ has been reported to be a type II Dirac semimetal with Dirac nodes near the Fermi surface. Furthermore, it is unveiled that NiTe₂ presents the Hall Effect, which is ascribed to orbital magnetoresistance. The physical properties behavior of NiTe₂ under high pressure attracts us. In this paper, we investigate the electrical properties of polycrystalline NiTe₂ by application of pressure ranging from 3.4GPa to 54.45Gpa. Superconductivity emerges at critical pressure 12GPa with a transition temperature of 3.7K, and Tc reaches its maximum, 6.4 K, at the pressure of 52.8GPa. Comparing with the superconductivity in MoP, we purposed the possibility of topological superconductivity in NiTe₂. Two superconductivity transitions are observed with pressure increasing in single crystal